SUMMARY
The prescribing a drug without the indications for which the drug was originally approved by regulators is internationally known as prescribing “off-label”. Objective: To describe the off-label prescriptions in type 2 diabetes (DM2) prevention, reported international scientific literature, through an integrative bibliographical review. Method: An integrative review was made by searching the Medline international database for review of manuscripts. Selection of these databases was based on the wide range of journals covered by each of them and our goal was to provide an overview of the scientific production devoted to the topic over the timeframe under analysis. The following inclusion criteria were considered during the review: articles published between January 1985 and June 2013; use of the keywords “off-label use” OR “off-label” OR “off-label prescribing” OR “diabetes prevention” OR “prevention” MeSH “diabetes mellitus” entered into the search form, and availability of an abstract in English. Results: A total 852 scientific productions were identified, and 30 studies were selected by contain information about the off-label prescriptions in DM2. Conclusion: The practice of off-label prescribing itself has notable benefits. In some situations, an off-label prescription is the only treatment available to a patient, either because a more targeted drug is does not exist, or because other methods of treatment are ineffective or unavailable due to patient intolerance. In these situations, off-label uses of drugs provide the only chance of restored health.