Date:
01/28/2008 05:02 PM Cold meds send 7,000 children to hospital ERs, government
says in first estimate of problem
By MIKE STOBBE
AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA (AP) _ Cough and cold medicines send
about 7,000 children to hospital emergency rooms each year,
the U.S. government said Monday in its first national estimate.
About two-thirds of the cases were children
who took the medicines unsupervised. However, about one-quarter
involved cases in which parents gave the proper dosage and
an allergic reaction or some other problem developed, the
study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reported.
The study included both over-the-counter and
prescription medicines. It comes less than two weeks after
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned parents that
over-the-counter cough and cold medicines are too dangerous
for children younger than 2.
The study's findings about the proportion
of properly dosed kids who end up in the ER is likely to contribute
to ongoing FDA reviews, CDC officials said.
CDC researchers gathered case reports of children
11 and under who had taken cough and cold medications and
wound up in 63 hospitals studied in 2004 and 2005. They used
that number to come up with the national estimate.
About 1,600 of the estimated 7,100 children
are under 2, so the FDA's guidance — if followed —
should reduce such ER cases by 23 percent.
More than three-quarters of the cases involved
kids ages 2 to 5, the CDC found.
"The main message is no medication left
in the hands of a 3-year-old is safe," said the CDC's
Dr. Melissa Schaefer.
Many of the ER case reports were not specific
about symptoms, and the researchers did not follow cases through
to conclusion. So they did not know if — or how many
— deaths resulted, said Schaefer, an epidemiologist
who was the study's lead author.
For the children whose symptoms were reported,
allergic reactions like hives and itching were most common,
and neurological symptoms like drowsiness and unresponsiveness
were next, she said.
Most of the medicines involved were liquid
combinations of cough and cold treatments, CDC researchers
said.
Parents should not encourage children to take
medicine by telling them it's candy, and parents should also
avoid taking adult medications in front of kids, CDC officials
said.
The study tells a story of the misuse of medications,
said Linda Suydam, president of the Consumer Healthcare Products
Association, a trade group that represents manufacturers and
distributors of over-the-counter medicines.
"These medicines are safe when used as
directed, and this government review underscores the importance
of educating consumers — especially those with small
children — on the safe use and safekeeping of medicine,"
Suydam said, in a prepared statement.
The study was published online Monday. It
will appear in the April issue of Pediatrics, a journal of
the American Academy of Pediatrics.
