Prevalence of long-term use of liquid oral medicines by children in the northern region, England.

The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of frequent administration of liquid oral medicines, long-term, in children aged 1-16 years in a number of districts within the Northern Region in 1989-91. This was achieved through two surveys, one conducted amongst consultant paediatricians in five districts, and the other in four general medical practices in two districts within the region. The consultant survey identified 243 children aged 1-16 years currently taking long-term liquid oral medicines frequently, under consultant paediatric care. This represented a prevalence of 1:916 children (0.11 per cent) in the five districts studied. The general medical practice survey showed that the prescribing of liquid oral medicines for prolonged periods was not confined to those children who had been referred to and were under the care of consultant paediatricians. It indicated that the prevalence of long-term medication with prescription-based liquid oral medicines in children under the care of consultant paediatricians or general medical practitioners or both, was approximately 1:361 (0.28 per cent). Of the 67 different liquid oral medicine preparations which were used long-term, 39 per cent were sugar-based, 33 per cent sugar-free, and the rest 'variable'; either sugar-based or sugar-free depending on how specifically they were prescribed.