What are the risks of giving children off-label medications?
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RealAge answered:The downside of a doctor using medications off-label is that pediatricians have to estimate the dosage for kids based on the amount that’s been proven effective in adults (or, sometimes, in older children). Pediatricians have a lot of practice at this. But there’s always some risk of a child getting too much or too little medicine if the dose isn’t calculated correctly, so that’s why caution is key: I always give the smallest dose possible to do the job in order to minimize the odds that the drug will cause side effects.
From The Smart Parent's Guide: Getting Your Kids Through Checkups, Illnesses, and Accidents by Jennifer Trachtenberg.
Find out more about this book: The Smart Parent's Guide: Getting Your Kids Through Checkups, Illnesses, an...
The downside of a doctor using medications off-label is that pediatricians have to estimate the dosage for kids based on the amount that’s been proven effective in adults (or, sometimes, in older children). Pediatricians have a lot of practice... More
