European journal of clinical pharmacology
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Eur. J. Clin. Pharmacol. · Jan 2007
The awareness among paediatricians of off-label prescribing in children: a survey of Italian hospitals.
To investigate paediatricians' perception and awareness of off-label (OL) and unlicensed drug usage in clinical practice. ⋯ Italian paediatricians perceived different drugs as unlicensed/OL from those identified by existing prescriptions studies. These perceived drugs may represent a priority in tackling the problem of OL usage in the hospital practice. The review of the Italian Summary Product Characteristics of some of the drugs identified, together with the monitoring of permanent clinical practice and with new clinical research, may be a step forward to reduce OL use in children.