Paediatric oral dosage forms: Why do caregivers need drug modifications and how?

Year 2024, Volume: 54 Issue: 3, 307 - 315, 30.12.2024

Özlem Akbal Dağıstan , Miray Arslan , Fevziye İşçi , Gamze Nur Temurtaş

https://doi.org/10.26650/IstanbulJPharm.2024.1518350

Abstract

Background and Aims: A major obstacle to developing appropriate medications is the lack of understanding of what is acceptable for paediatric patients and the types of alterations that can be made to the dosage form. This study aimed to identify problems encountered when administering oral dosage forms to paediatric patients and solutions identified by patients’ caregivers.
Methods: A questionnaire was developed by the research team based on relevant literature and their experiences. The first part involves questions to determine the demographic characteristics of the paediatric patient and their caregivers. The second section includes 11 statements about the problems experienced by caregivers regarding the child’s medication use. The last part consists of 4 closed-ended questions and one open-ended question to evaluate the solutions offered by the patient’s caregivers.
Results: A total of 419 caregivers participated in the study. In particular, it has been revealed that children experience problems regarding the taste, smell, and size of medicines. When the caregivers’ solutions are evaluated, it was observed that the most common method is convincing or forcing the child to take, followed by dosage form alterations such as breaking, crushing, and dividing the form.
Conclusion: This is the first study to evaluate problems encountered when administering oral dosage forms to paediatric patients in Türkiye. The results show that the absence of age-appropriate medicines forces caregivers to alter their dosage forms. This study also highlights the necessity of considering user preferences in the dosage form design, which is an essential parameter of the target product quality profile that ensures patient compliance.

Keywords

Acceptability, Age-appropriate, Alteration, Paediatrics, Dosage forms

Ethical Statement

Ethics Committee Approval: The study was conducted with the permission decisions of the Van Governorship Provincial Health Directorate numbered 73040253-044-E.438 and the Van-Bitlis-Hakkari Chamber of Pharmacists with number 2019/1626 and the World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Helsinki Ethical Principles in Medical Research on Human Volunteers.

Supporting Institution

None

Thanks

The researchers would like to thank all respondents, who answered the questionnaire voluntarily.

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