COMmonly used Medicines On Neonatal units in the UK

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Drug utilization patterns in neonatal units in the UK: a retrospective pharmacoepidemiological study.

• IRAS ID

  248088

• Contact name

  Shalini Ojha

• Contact email

  shalini.ojha@nottingham.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Nottingham

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Prescribing medicines in babies can be complicated. Using scientific evidence to help is challenging because there are very few research studies to help decide the most suitable medicines, the best doses to give, or which side effects to look out for and most medicines are not approved for use in babies.
  A review of scientific reports on use of medicines in babies found that antibiotics, caffeine and vitamins are most commonly used. This study highlighted how little is known about medicine use in babies and that further research is needed to recommend rational use. The only UK study included was a survey from 2009 which had response rate of only 42% and collected data for a short period (2 weeks). This means that the findings are very limited.
  We systematically searched all the existing research on this topic and found no other information. An updated medicine use study is therefore needed for babies.
  In this project we will conduct a “pharmacoepidemological study” i.e. a study to examine use of medicines in real life settings in a specific group, for babies in the UK. We will use data that has already been collected and stored in the National Neonatal Research Database (NNRD). NNRD hold information collected from neonatal units in the UK and has approval for research. With this database will be have information on all babies treated in neonatal units in the UK over 8 years. The aim of our study is to find the most commonly used medicines for babies in the UK and to determine the change in pattern of medicines use over the last 8 years. The results will then help to inform doctors and families about what medicines are currently in use and help further work to help rational use of medicines for babies.

• REC name

  Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds East Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  18/YH/0209

• Date of REC Opinion

  21 May 2018

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion