PPI: Use in Pediatric

• The literature on PPIs does not have well-defined age ranges for pediatric patients.
• Some studies define children as patients 1 to 12 years old and adolescents as patients 13 to 17 years old. Other studies define children as patients 1 to 17 years old.
• The ages of the patients were also inconsistent in the clinical trials conducted for medication approval.

Indications

• Medications in the PPI drug therapy class have been proven safe and effective in children and adolescents for the short-term treatment of GERD and EE.
• However, PPIs are often used to treat conditions that have not been formally diagnosed.
• PPIs are used for the prevention and treatment of gastric acid related conditions.
• These FDA-approved indications and age ranges apply to the prescribing of PPIs:

• short-term treatment of symptomatic GERD and healing of EE
• Only rabeprazole is FDA approved for the treatment of GERD in pediatric patients ages 1 to 11
• No PPI is FDA approved for use in patients younger than one year old
• Five of the six currently available PPIs have an FDA-approved indication for patients younger than 18 years old.

Reference:

Proton Pump Inhibitors: Use In Pediatric Patients. Education Medicaid Integrity Contractor for the CMS Medicaid Integrity Program (MIP).