3.3 Off-label drug prescriptions
According to the Mcdex (version 3), 4920 (84.64%) out of the 5813 prescriptions were classified as off label. Off-label use for age (3665 prescriptions) was most frequent, followed by indication (2742 prescriptions), dose (528 prescriptions), frequency (244 prescriptions) and route of administration (54 prescriptions). (Table 3) The majority of neonates (92.03%) were exposed to at least one off-label prescription. The most frequently prescribed drugs in off-label manner were phosphocreatine (425 prescriptions) and phylloquinone (416 prescriptions) (Table 2). Of note, inhalation of ambroxol for injection were the main reason of the off-label use for route of administration, due to the unavailability of ambroxol for inhalation in China.
However, some prescribed drugs were not found in CNFC 2013, such as caffeine, adenosine and biapenem. According to CNFC 2013, 3789 prescriptions were prescribed off label. The main reasons for off-label drug use were age (2276 prescriptions), indication (2207 prescriptions), dose (492 prescriptions), frequency (396 prescriptions) and route of administration (54 prescriptions), which were different from the results derived from Mcdex (version 3).