Patterns of preadmission medication use among hospitalized children.
To determine patterns of medication use prior to hospital admission, we reviewed records of 3,487 infants and children monitored by the Pediatric Drug Surveillance Program. Subjects were admitted to selected monitored wards at the Children's Hospital Medical Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital between 1974 and 1979. The median number of drugs taken in the three months prior to admission was 3.5; 220 children (6%) reported taking no preadmission drugs, and 351 (10%) reported taking ten or more drugs. Preadmission drug use was highest in patients with cancer and children with chronic diseases (such as cystic fibrosis), and use was also high among infants transferred to a referral neonatal ICU. The most common preadmission medications for selected discharge diagnoses and indications are presented. In addition, review of the data revealed changes in the use of specific drugs (chloramphenicol, ampicillin, amoxicillin, Dimetapp, and cimetidine) over the study period. These data suggest that there is substantial use of medications by pediatric patients prior to hospital admission and that the nature of such drug use changes over time.