Prescription Medications in Infancy and Early Childhood

The prescription medication exposures of a cohort of 222 children during their first five years of life were investigated. Excluding the three outliers, the cohort received 1852 medications during 1358 of the total 6017 visits made in five years. The greatest number of medications were administered or prescribed between 7 and 12 months of age. The majority of the medications over five years were oral preparations, and 87% were prescribed for two weeks or less. Antibacterials, bronchodilators, and antifungal-antiyeasts accounted for 80% of the 1852 medication courses. One third of all medications were for ampicillin or amoxicillin. High medication recipients were likely to have chronic conditions, especially recurrent otitis media and/or asthma, and were likely to be high users of our health facility.