Too much medicine kills the medicine?
According to a study carried out by Inserm, too many drugs are prescribed to children in France, and in particular to those under six, according to a study published on Monday.
"France is one of the most prescribing countries for outpatient pediatric drugs", outside hospitals, even if we must be careful in these comparisons because "health systems and drug reimbursement policies differ between countries", emphasizes in a press release from the Inserm research institute.
In fact, in 2017, the OECD wrote "that in France, the use of antibiotics is almost 50% higher than the average for OECD countries", ranking 34th out of 35 nations.
Read also The doctor does not prescribe enough generics, he is summoned to court
Yet "the youngest children are particularly vulnerable to the short and long-term adverse effects of drugs."
“In addition, the safety profile of many drugs used in pediatrics is only partially known,” adds the research institute.
"These worrying results require detailed analyzes to better target future training campaigns (in order) to optimize the use of drugs in pediatrics," said the co-author of the study, Dr Marion Taine, quoted in the press release. .
Children under six most affected
Published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health Europe, the study looks at this type of prescription in 2018-2019, compared to 2010-2011, based on reimbursement data from Social Security.
It relates to reimbursed drugs prescribed to people under 18, excluding hospitalizations, by a doctor, a midwife or a dentist.
In total, for 2018-2019, more than 230 million drug dispensations were analyzed.
Read also Too many antibiotics consumed in France
Over this period, "on average, 86 out of 100 children under the age of 18 were exposed to at least one drug prescription during a year", or "a 4% increase compared to 2010-2011", according to Inserm.
"Children under six years of age represented the category of children most exposed to drugs with more than 97 out of 100 children affected over one year", continues Inserm.
The families of drugs most prescribed for minors are analgesics (64%), antibiotics (40%), nasal corticosteroids (33%), vitamin D (30%), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (24 %), antihistamines (25%) and oral corticosteroids (21%).