Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Jan 24, 2022
Date Accepted: Jun 30, 2022
Date Submitted to PubMed: Jul 1, 2022
Trends in the Prevalence of Chronic Medication Use Within Children in Israel Between 2010 and 2019: Protocol for a Retrospective Cohort Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Prescription of psychostimulants has significantly increased in most countries worldwide for both pre-school and school-aged children. Understanding the trends of chronic medication use among children in different age groups and socio-demographic backgrounds is essential. This must be processed by distinguishing selected therapy areas is essential to help decision-makers evaluate not only the relevant expected medication costs but also the specific services related to these areas.
Objective:
This study will analyze differences in trends regarding medications considered psycho-behavioral treatments and medications considered non-psycho-behavioral treatments and will identify risk factors and predictors for chronic medication use among children.
Methods:
This is a retrospective study. Data will be extracted from the Clalit Health Services data warehouse. For each year between 2010 and 2019, there are approximately 1,500,000 children aged 0-18 years. All Medication classes will be identiļ¬ed using the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical code. A time-trend analysis will be performed to investigate if there is a significant difference between the trends of children's psycho-behavioral and non-psycho-behavioral medication prescriptions. A logistic regression combined with machine learning models will be developed to identify variables that may increase the risk for specific chronic medication types and identify children likely to get such treatment.
Results:
The project was funded in 2019. Data analysis is currently underway, and the results are expected to be submitted for publication in 2022. Understanding trends regarding medications considered psycho-behavioral treatments and medications considered non-psycho-behavioral treatments will support the identification of risk factors and predictors for chronic medication use among children.
Conclusions:
Analyzing the response of the patient (their parents or caregivers) population over time will hopefully help improve the policies for the prescriptions and the follow-up of chronic treatments in children.
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