{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T08:52:19Z","timestamp":1773391939723,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773360000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Pediatr."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The aim of this study was to assess prescribing intensity and rational dosing of antihypertensives in children using Defined Daily Dose (DDD) and Drug Utilization Index (DUI).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was conducted on all antihypertensive prescriptions dispensed at a tertiary children's hospital from May 2023 to April 2024, excluding those with incomplete data or on fixed-dose combinations. Prescription medicine use is basically reasonable when DUI is close to 1 (0.9\u20131.1), a DUI &amp;gt;1.1 suggests that the actual daily dose exceeds DDD, while a DUI &amp;lt;0.9 indicates underdosing. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 23.0 with significance at\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.05.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A total of 1,562 prescriptions for 422 children (12\u201318 years; 76.30% male) were analysed; prevalence peaked at 13 years. Among over-12-year-olds, DUI &amp;lt;0.9 for \u03b2-blockers, spironolactone and nifedipine; DUI\u2009\u2248\u20091 for furosemide, captopril and losartan; DUI &amp;gt;1.1 for hydrochlorothiazide, amlodipine, ramipril and fosinopril. Amlodipine comprised 42.8% of total DDDs, followed by fosinopril (25.6%) and ramipril (20.0%). Males showed borderline higher DUI values.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Hypertension was most prevalent among 13- to 14-year-old, who also exhibited the highest antihypertensive exposure and drug-use intensity relative to girls. Once-daily formulations accounted for the majority of prescriptions. Pediatric oral hypertension dosing remains inconsistent in clinical practice. These findings support sex-specific management and guideline updates to improve blood pressure control in high-risk adolescents.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fped.2026.1764582","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T06:47:13Z","timestamp":1773384433000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Pediatric oral antihypertensive agents: analysis of prescription patterns and patient characteristics in a real-world study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Haixin","family":"Cheng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, Capital Center for Children's Health, Capital Medical University, Capital Institute of Pediatrics","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ying","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, Capital Center for Children's Health, Capital Medical University, Capital Institute of Pediatrics","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ziyin","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Science and Technology, Capital Medical University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Siyuan","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"B.E. Candidate in Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington","place":["Seattle, WA, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xuli","family":"Zhong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, Capital Center for Children's Health, Capital Medical University, Capital Institute of Pediatrics","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jianmin","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, Capital Center for Children's Health, Capital Medical University, Capital Institute of Pediatrics","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1270","DOI":"10.1097\/HJH.0000000000003186","article-title":"Prevalence of hypertension and hypertension phenotypes after three 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