Use of unlicensed and off-label drugs in neonates in a Brazilian university hospital.

This study was designed to investigate the use of off-label and unlicensed drugs in a Neonatal Care Unit (NCU) and to compare the frequency of use of off-label drugs according to the drug regulatory agencies in Brazil (Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária-ANVISA) and the United States Food and D...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Adriana Cristina de Souza Gonçalves, Adriano Max Moreira Reis, Ana Carolina Gusmão Marçal, Maria Cândida Ferrarez Bouzada
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da UFMG
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.ufmg.br:1843/75939
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/1843/75939
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Drugs-use-University Hospital-Brazil
Drug-useoff-label-unlicensed
Drug therapy
Neonatology
University Hospital-Brazil.
Medicamentos - Utilização
Uso Off-Label
Terapia medicamentosa - Gerenciamento
Neonatologia
Hospitais universitários - Brasil
Descripción
Sumario:This study was designed to investigate the use of off-label and unlicensed drugs in a Neonatal Care Unit (NCU) and to compare the frequency of use of off-label drugs according to the drug regulatory agencies in Brazil (Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária-ANVISA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A prospective observational study was carried out in the NCU. Prescriptions were classified as off-label and unlicensed using both ANVISA and FDA criteria. A total of 157 newborns and 1187 prescriptions were analyzed. The most prescribed drug was fentanyl (9.3%), followed by multivitamin (8.4%) and gentamicin (7.9%). According to ANVISA criteria, there were 665 (56.0%) off-label prescriptions and 86 (7.2%) unlicensed prescriptions and 95.5% of newborns received at least one drug off-label. By contrast, according to FDA criteria, there were 592 (49.9%) off-label prescriptions and 84 (7.1%) unlicensed prescriptions, and 72.0% of newborns received at least one drug off-label. The off-label use of drugs registered by ANVISA differed significantly from that of drugs registered by the FDA. There was a high frequency of off-label and unlicensed drug use in the investigated NCU, and there was an inverse relationship between off-label and unlicensed usage and the gestational age of the newborns.