Cough medicine prescriptions for children by physician specialty and healthcare sector: a Finnish population-based nationwide register study.

ABSTRACT: Despite clear clinical guidelines advising against the use of cough and cold medicines (CCMs) in children, these products continue to be prescribed. We aimed at describing recent trends and identifying deviations from guidelines to inform future targeted interventions. We retrospectively retrieved data on all CCM prescriptions for children under 16 years of age in Finland between 2017 and 2023 from the centralised nationwide prescription registry. Descriptive statistical methods were used to analyse the data, stratified by child's age, CCM type, physician's employment sector, and medical specialty. The dataset included 96,499 prescriptions for 75,281 children. Overall, CCM prescribing decreased significantly from 2017 to 2023, particularly between 2017 and 2020, with the steepest decline i

SUBMITTER: Csonka P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12234626 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature