Off-Label Medicine Use in Pediatric Inpatients: A Prospective Observational Study at a Tertiary Care Hospital in India

Table 3

Off-label medicine use according to ATC and drugs.

WHO-ATC system	Total medicine	Off-label medicine	Off-label category
			Dose	Age	Indication	Route	Absence of pediatric information
Anti-infectives for systemic use	531	389; (73)	408; (87.8)	21; (4.5)	5; (1.1)	9; (1.9)	22; (4.7)
Respiratory system	463	378; (82)	244; (56.8)	170; (39.5)	6; (1.4)	7; (1.6)	3; (0.7)
Nervous system	411	220; (53)	168; (55.8)	49; (16.3)	68; (22.6)	0; (0)	16; (5.3)
Alimentary tract and metabolism	99	85; (86)	34; (27.7)	18; (14.6)	48; (39)	0; (0)	23; (18.7)
Hormonal preparation	40	32; (80)	30; (66.7)	15; (33.3)	0; (0)	0; (0)	0; (0)
Cardiovascular system	34	24; (71)	9; (28.1)	9; (28.1)	2; (6.3)	0; (0)	12; (37.5)
Blood and blood forming agents	18	16; (89)	0; (0)	0; (0)	16; (100)	0; (0)	0; (0)
Ant parasitic products	49	8; (16)	0; (0)	0; (0)	0; (0)	8; (100)	0; (0)

Note: the total number of off-label uses may exceed that of off-label drugs because a drug may be off-label for more than one category. Figures in parentheses indicate percentage.