Temporal Patterns of Medications Dispensed to Children and Adolescents in a National Insured Population
This study aimed to comprehensively describe prevalence and temporal dispensing patterns for medications prescribed to children and adolescents in the United States. Participants were 1.6 million children (49% female) under 18 years old enrolled in a nation-wide, employer-provided insurance plan. Al...
| المؤلفون الرئيسيون: | , |
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| مؤلفون آخرون: | |
| التنسيق: | مقال |
| اللغة: | en_US |
| منشور في: |
Public Library of Science
2012
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| الوصول للمادة أونلاين: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/72401 |
| _version_ | 1826189022565761024 |
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| author | Olson, Karen L. Mandl, Kenneth D. |
| author2 | Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology |
| author_facet | Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology Olson, Karen L. Mandl, Kenneth D. |
| author_sort | Olson, Karen L. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This study aimed to comprehensively describe prevalence and temporal dispensing patterns for medications prescribed to children and adolescents in the United States. Participants were 1.6 million children (49% female) under 18 years old enrolled in a nation-wide, employer-provided insurance plan. All medication claims from 1999–2006 were reviewed retrospectively. Drugs were assigned to 16 broad therapeutic categories. Effects of trend over time, seasonality, age and gender on overall and within category prevalence were examined. Results: Mean monthly prevalence for dispensed medications was 23.5% (range 19.4–27.5), with highest rates in winter and lowest in July. The age group with the highest prevalence was one-year-old children. On average each month, 17.1% of all children were dispensed a single drug and 6.4% were dispensed two or more. Over time, prevalence for two or more drugs did not change, but the proportion of children dispensed a single drug decreased (slope -.02%, p = .001). Overall, boys had higher monthly rates than girls (average difference 0.9%, p = .002). However, differences by gender were greatest during middle childhood, especially for respiratory and central nervous system agents. Contraceptives accounted for a large proportion of dispensed medication to older teenage girls. Rates for the drugs with the highest prevalence in this study were moderately correlated (average Pearson r.66) with those from a previously published national survey. Conclusion: On average, nearly one quarter of a population of insured children in the United States was dispensed medication each month. This rate decreased somewhat over time, primarily because proportionally fewer children were dispensed a single medication. The rate for two or more drugs dispensed simultaneously remained steady. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:08:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/72401 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:08:20Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/724012022-09-30T07:48:25Z Temporal Patterns of Medications Dispensed to Children and Adolescents in a National Insured Population Olson, Karen L. Mandl, Kenneth D. Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology Mandl, Kenneth D. Olson, Karen L. Mandl, Kenneth D. This study aimed to comprehensively describe prevalence and temporal dispensing patterns for medications prescribed to children and adolescents in the United States. Participants were 1.6 million children (49% female) under 18 years old enrolled in a nation-wide, employer-provided insurance plan. All medication claims from 1999–2006 were reviewed retrospectively. Drugs were assigned to 16 broad therapeutic categories. Effects of trend over time, seasonality, age and gender on overall and within category prevalence were examined. Results: Mean monthly prevalence for dispensed medications was 23.5% (range 19.4–27.5), with highest rates in winter and lowest in July. The age group with the highest prevalence was one-year-old children. On average each month, 17.1% of all children were dispensed a single drug and 6.4% were dispensed two or more. Over time, prevalence for two or more drugs did not change, but the proportion of children dispensed a single drug decreased (slope -.02%, p = .001). Overall, boys had higher monthly rates than girls (average difference 0.9%, p = .002). However, differences by gender were greatest during middle childhood, especially for respiratory and central nervous system agents. Contraceptives accounted for a large proportion of dispensed medication to older teenage girls. Rates for the drugs with the highest prevalence in this study were moderately correlated (average Pearson r.66) with those from a previously published national survey. Conclusion: On average, nearly one quarter of a population of insured children in the United States was dispensed medication each month. This rate decreased somewhat over time, primarily because proportionally fewer children were dispensed a single medication. The rate for two or more drugs dispensed simultaneously remained steady. 2012-08-28T20:52:34Z 2012-08-28T20:52:34Z 2012-07 2011-11 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/72401 Olson, Karen L., and Kenneth D. Mandl. “Temporal Patterns of Medications Dispensed to Children and Adolescents in a National Insured Population.” Ed. James G. Scott. PLoS ONE 7.7 (2012): e40991. en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040991 PLoS ONE Creative Commons Attribution http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ application/pdf Public Library of Science PLoS |
| spellingShingle | Olson, Karen L. Mandl, Kenneth D. Temporal Patterns of Medications Dispensed to Children and Adolescents in a National Insured Population |
| title | Temporal Patterns of Medications Dispensed to Children and Adolescents in a National Insured Population |
| title_full | Temporal Patterns of Medications Dispensed to Children and Adolescents in a National Insured Population |
| title_fullStr | Temporal Patterns of Medications Dispensed to Children and Adolescents in a National Insured Population |
| title_full_unstemmed | Temporal Patterns of Medications Dispensed to Children and Adolescents in a National Insured Population |
| title_short | Temporal Patterns of Medications Dispensed to Children and Adolescents in a National Insured Population |
| title_sort | temporal patterns of medications dispensed to children and adolescents in a national insured population |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/72401 |
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