Abstract
Objectives
Preterm children are exposed to many medications in neonatal intensive care units, but little is known about the effect of prematurity on medication use throughout infancy and childhood. We examined prescriptions of cardiovascular medication (CVM), antiseizure medication (ASM), antiasthmatic medication and antibiotics issued/dispensed in the first 10 years of life for very and moderately preterm children compared with term.
Design
Population-based data linkage cohort study linking information from birth records to prescription records.
Setting
Six registries from five countries in the EUROlinkCAT study.
Participants
The study population included 1 722 912 children, of whom 10 820 (0.6%) were very preterm (
Main outcome measures
Relative risk (RR) of receiving a prescription for CVM, ASM, antiasthmatic and antibiotics.
Results
Very preterm children had a higher RR of receiving a prescription for CVM and ASM than preterm children. For all preterm children, the RR of having a CVM prescription was 3.58 (95% CI 2.06 to 6.23); 2.06 (95% CI 1.73 to 2.41) for ASM; 1.13 (95% CI 0.99 to 1.29) for antiasthmatics and 0.96 (95% CI 0.93 to 0.99) for antibiotics in the first year of life. Increased prescription of CVM, ASM and antiasthmatics persisted for all 10 years of follow-up. Although the RR was highest for CVM and ASM, in absolute numbers more children received prescriptions for antibiotics (42.34%, 95% CI 38.81% to 45.91%) and antiasthmatics (28.40%, 95% CI 16.07% to 42.649%) than for CVM (0.18%, 95% CI 0.12% to 0.25%) and ASM (0.16%, 95% CI 0.13% to 0.20%) in the first year of life.
Conclusion
Preterm children had a higher risk of being prescribed/dispensed CVM, ASM and antiasthmatics up to age 10. This study highlights a need for further research into morbidity beyond age 10.
Preterm children are exposed to many medications in neonatal intensive care units, but little is known about the effect of prematurity on medication use throughout infancy and childhood. We examined prescriptions of cardiovascular medication (CVM), antiseizure medication (ASM), antiasthmatic medication and antibiotics issued/dispensed in the first 10 years of life for very and moderately preterm children compared with term.
Design
Population-based data linkage cohort study linking information from birth records to prescription records.
Setting
Six registries from five countries in the EUROlinkCAT study.
Participants
The study population included 1 722 912 children, of whom 10 820 (0.6%) were very preterm (
Main outcome measures
Relative risk (RR) of receiving a prescription for CVM, ASM, antiasthmatic and antibiotics.
Results
Very preterm children had a higher RR of receiving a prescription for CVM and ASM than preterm children. For all preterm children, the RR of having a CVM prescription was 3.58 (95% CI 2.06 to 6.23); 2.06 (95% CI 1.73 to 2.41) for ASM; 1.13 (95% CI 0.99 to 1.29) for antiasthmatics and 0.96 (95% CI 0.93 to 0.99) for antibiotics in the first year of life. Increased prescription of CVM, ASM and antiasthmatics persisted for all 10 years of follow-up. Although the RR was highest for CVM and ASM, in absolute numbers more children received prescriptions for antibiotics (42.34%, 95% CI 38.81% to 45.91%) and antiasthmatics (28.40%, 95% CI 16.07% to 42.649%) than for CVM (0.18%, 95% CI 0.12% to 0.25%) and ASM (0.16%, 95% CI 0.13% to 0.20%) in the first year of life.
Conclusion
Preterm children had a higher risk of being prescribed/dispensed CVM, ASM and antiasthmatics up to age 10. This study highlights a need for further research into morbidity beyond age 10.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e061746 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-11 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | BMJ Open |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Early online date | 17 Oct 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 17 Oct 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 733001. The views presented here are those of the authors only, and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information presented here.Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Keywords
- Other Medical and Health Sciences
- Public Health and Health Services
- Clinical Sciences
- Congenital heart disease
- NEONATOLOGY
- Public Health
- Premature Birth
- Anti-Asthmatic Agents
- Humans
- Information Storage and Retrieval
- Neonatology
- Drug Prescriptions
- Anti-Bacterial Agents
- Female
- Child
- Infant, Newborn
- Cohort Studies
- Public health
- Premature Birth/epidemiology
- Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use
