Doctors prescribe in children more and more often drugs that are actually approved for you. A new study from the US shows. The results underscore the lack of education, research, and measures for the effective and safe prescribing of medicines in children.

The journal Pediatrics published study says that Doctors ‘ children, around 19 percent of all visits one or more "Off-Label"-To prescribe medication. "Off-Label" means that drugs can be used for a field of application for the you have of the authorities, no approval. In children this is often the case, because there are for their age groups no adequate studies. The most commonly prescribed "Off-Label"-Medications antihistamines and antibiotics for respiratory infections, as well as antidepressants in the treatment of attention deficit – hyperactivity disorder, in short ADHD were.

About 83 percent of the recipes for newborns, 49% for infants and 40 percent for other age groups were "Off-Label"-Drugs. Between 2006 and 2015, the Rate in the USA increased from 42 to 47 percent.

Prof. Daniel Horton, pediatric rheumatologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, points out that this approach is legal: "We understand, however, is not always, how ,Off-Label‘-Drugs on children are not affected since they always appeal to adults medication." In some cases, these prescription high-quality evidence for the safe use, for example, drugs are used to prevent vomiting in chemotherapy also quite good for the treatment of children with other causes of vomiting, such as a virus infections.

ZOU