Off-label use information in electronic drug information resources.

Objective: To compare electronic drug information resources for scope, completeness, and consistency of off-label uses information, and to group resources into tiers based on these endpoints.

Methods: An evaluation study of six electronic drug information resources (Clinical Pharmacology, Lexi-Drugs, American Hospital Formulary Service Drug Information, Facts and Comparisons Off-Label, Micromedex Quick Answers, and Micromedex In-Depth Answers) was conducted. All off-label uses for the top 50 prescribed medications, by volume, were extracted from all resources and used to determine scope (i.e., whether the resource listed the use). Fifty randomly selected uses were then evaluated for completeness (i.e., whether the entry cited clinical practice guidelines, cited clinical studies, provided a dose, described statistical significance, and described clinical significance) and consistency (i.e., whether the resource provided the same dose as the majority).

Results: A sample of 584 uses was generated. The largest number of listed uses was in Micromedex In-Depth Answers (67%), followed by Micromedex Quick Answers (43%), Clinical Pharmacology (34%), and Lexi-Drugs (32%). The highest scoring resources for completeness were Facts and Comparisons Off-Label (median score 4/5), Micromedex In-Depth Answers (median score 3.5/5), and Lexi-Drugs (median score 3/5). Consistency with the majority in terms of dosing was highest for Lexi-Drugs (82%), Clinical Pharmacology (62%), Micromedex In-Depth Answers (58%), and Facts and Comparisons Off-Label (50%).

Conclusion: The top-tiered resources for scope were Micromedex In-Depth and Quick Answers. For completeness, the top-tiered resources were Facts and Comparisons Off-Label and Micromedex In-Depth Answers. Lexi-Drugs and Clinical Pharmacology were the most consistent in dosing.