CDC: Keep Children Safe by Storing Drugs Properly

Over the counter cold remedies send approximately 7,000 children each year to hospital emergency rooms, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  The study represents the CDC’s first national estimate of the problem.  

The report said that about two-thirds of these emergency room visits were from unsupervised children who took the medicines, while another one-quarter represented cases in which the children were given the proper dose but had an allergic reaction or some other problem as a result of the medicine.  The study showed that more than half the children who received the proper dosage were ages 6 to 11, while a third were under 2.

CDC officials said the high proportion of properly dosed children who nevertheless ended up in the emergency room would contribute to FDA considerations about recommendations of these over the counter medicines for children aged 2 to 6.

To arrive at their estimates, CDC researchers examined case reports of children under age 12 who had taken cough and cold medications and ended up in one of 63 hospitals from 2004-2005.  They then used these numbers to extrapolate a national estimate of the problem.

Since approximately 1,600 of the estimated 7,100 children in the study were under 2 years of age, the new FDA guidelines that restrict cold medicines for kids under 2 should reduce these emergency room visits by 23 percent.  The study showed that almost two-thirds of the ER visits were children 2 to 5 years old.

“The main message is no medication left in the hands of a 3 year old is safe,” Dr. Melissa Schaefer, an epidemiologist with the CDC and the study’s lead author, told Associated Press.  

The study did not report if, or how many, deaths may have occurred as a result of the medications.  And many of the ER case reports were not specific about symptoms.   However, for those children whose symptoms were reported, allergic reactions such as hives and itching were the most common symptom.   Neurological symptoms such as drowsiness and impaired walking were next, according to Dr. Schaefer.
 
The results weren’t unexpected, she said.  Some children suffer side effects from medications, and the FDA will have to balance this data against the medicines’ benefits and other factors.

“What we gave them [the FDA] was a piece of the puzzle,” she said.

In the meantime, CDC officials said that parents should not encourage children to take medicine by telling them it is candy, and should also avoid taking adult medications in the presence of children. 

“These medications 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,” said Linda Suydam, president of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, in an interview with Associated Press.  The study tells a tale of misuse of medications, she added.

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On the Net:

The full CDC study will appear in the April issue of the journal Pediatrics.  It was also published online today and can be viewed at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2007-3638v1

The CDC press release can be viewed at
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/2008/r080128.htm