Warnings Re: Over-the-Counter Medication for Children: Less is More

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Parents may be giving their children more medicine than they should, according to new research being presented this week at Research Forum during Scientific Assembly, the annual meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians.  Two studies are raising concern about over-the-counter pediatric medications ("Liquid Pediatric Medication Dosing Cups Are Inaccurate" and "Do Parents in the Emergency Department Understand the Food and Drug Administration's Recommendation on Cough and Cold Medication Use in Children Under Two Years of Age? A Survey").

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Measuring the actual doses delivered by liquid pediatric dosing cups in multiple over-the-counter medications, researchers found most are inaccurate, which may lead parents to give their children a larger dose of medication than intended. http://bit.ly/9iDuoh

"Parents may be unintentionally overdosing their children," said lead study author Alison Tadros, MD, of West Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va.  "When parents use a medication cup that delivers extra medication and then, as has been found in prior studies, they overfill the cup, a child may get more medicine than recommended.  Multiply that by multiple doses over multiple days and a child may receive an amount that is not healthy.  Our team is planning further research to study the actual medication amounts that parents would administer to their children using these dosing cups."

Another study found that the majority of parents are not aware of a 2007 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) public health advisory recommending that children under the age of two not be given over-the-counter (OTC) cough and cold medications. http://bit.ly/c5KSn8

"Nearly two-thirds of parents we surveyed were not aware of FDA guidelines," said lead study author Shawn Varney, MD, FACEP, of Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.  "Even among the minority who knew that OTC cough and cold meds are unsafe in the youngest children, only one-third knew that these medications had caused death in children under two."  

Both researchers emphasized that parents are the first line of defense when it comes to the health of their children.  

"Emergency physicians are experts at treating childhood emergencies, but we're also here to try to prevent them," said Sandra Schneider, MD, FACEP, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians.  "Parents: More is not better when it comes to medicine for your kids."

ACEP is a national medical specialty society representing emergency medicine. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies.

Research Forum abstracts http://bit.ly/bL0Y4V

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SOURCE American College of Emergency Physicians