Introduction: Studies that evaluate the safety of non-prescription drugs in children remain scarce.
Objectives: The aim of the present study was to compare adverse drug reactions (ADRs) due to prescription versus non-prescription drugs in children.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of ADR notifications for a pediatric population (aged <18 years) registered in the French PharmacoVigilance Database (FPVD) between January 1985 and December 2016 by the Midi-Pyrénées PharmacoVigilance Center (in the south of France). We compared ADR profiles according to drug prescription status using a Chi-squared test.
Results: We included 2218 notifications concerning 3687 ADRs in the study. Non-prescription drugs were involved in 506 notifications (22.8%). Patients were younger in the non-prescription drug group (6.7 ± 5.3 vs. 8.4 ± 5.7 years in the prescription drug group). No difference by sex was found. Neurological ADRs were more frequent with prescription drugs (21.0%) than with non-prescription drugs (14.2%, p = 0.0008), whereas dermatological disorders (37.2 vs. 29.1%, respectively) and general ADRs (30.8 vs. 20.1%, respectively) were more frequent with non-prescription than with prescription drugs (p = 0.0006 and p < 0.0001, respectively). The frequency of "serious" ADRs was higher with prescription drugs than with non-prescription drugs (40.9 vs. 34.2%, p = 0.007). The non-prescription drugs most frequently implicated with serious ADRs were ibuprofen (n = 37; 4.2%), tuberculosis vaccine (n = 23; 2.6%), aspirin (n = 20, 2.3%), and paracetamol (n = 17; 1.9%). ADRs from prescription drugs involved asparaginase (n = 27; 3.1%), immunoglobulins (n = 25; 2.9%), and amoxicillin (n = 23; 2.4%).
Conclusions: Non-prescription drugs, usually considered safe, were frequently responsible for ADR notifications. The non-prescription medication most frequently involved in serious ADRs was ibuprofen.