10% of Kids Get Cough, Cold Drugs Every Week

Researchers working from the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University have just released the findings of an analytical study they’ve conducted to discover how often parents in the United States are giving their children oral medications formulated to relieve the symptoms of allergies, colds, and coughs. Their alarming discovery is that 10.1% of all kids in the US get at least one dosage of this type medication every week, in spite of the fact there is no conclusive evidence that these drugs are safe and effective when taken by children.

There have been several news stories issued in the recent past that indicate the risk of serious adverse events associated with some of the most commonly consumed pediatric cough and cold medications. The drugs have proven fatal on several occasions.

In order to discover how often the average child takes these medications, the Slone telephone survey asked parents how often they gave their children any FDA-approved oral medication to treat colds and coughs. The research team analyzed survey data gathered from 1999 to 2006.

It seems 10.1% of all children in the US get at least one dosage of pediatric cough or cold medication in any given week. The most commonly used drugs, according to active ingredients, are:

Antihistamines and decongestants - 6.3%
Anti-cough medications - 4.1%
Expectorants - 1.5%

The medications administered most frequently were single-ingredient antihistamines, a combination of antihistamine and decongestant ingredients in a single formula, and triple-ingredient formulas that include antihistamine, decongestant, and anti-coughing agents. In almost two out of three cases, the medication given to a child contained multiple active ingredients.

Children age 5 and under were more likely to get at least one dose of pediatric cough or cold medications than older children. The use of oral pediatric medications for coughs and colds peaked in 1999-2000, when the weekly dosing rate was 12.3%. This rate dropped to only 8.4% in 2005-2006.

Louis Vernaccio, MD, MSc, has expressed concern about the frequent use of these drugs when evidence of their effectiveness in children is lacking and the known adverse effects can be so serious, a situation he describes as “striking.” Vernaccio, lead author of the study, which has been published in the August issue of the journal, Pediatrics, is an assistant professor of epidemiology and pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine. The Slone Epidemiology Center funded the Vernaccio study.

Source: Boston University

Filed under: Children's Health, Drugs, Medical Research

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One Response to “10% of Kids Get Cough, Cold Drugs Every Week”

Jeff on August 9th, 2008 8:00

As a dad and a doctor, I find this a very scary topic. I used to think that as long as my patient’s or I dosed the children’s cold & cough medications right, then everything would be OK. But when I researched this further, it turns out that children have died from “over dose” of ALL THE MAJOR CHILDRENS COLD AND COUGH MEDICINES even when given the correct dose (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/108/3/e52?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=cough+medications&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT).

Here are a few interesting facts:

1. Last October 2008, the drug companies promised the FDA that they would change all their labeling to say “do not use” for children under the age of 2, but I was just in the store last week, and a number of packages still had the old labeling!

2. The FDA reviewed safety and effectiveness data this last fall and its expert panel said that “right now the current cold & cough medications should not be given to children under 6.” Here is a link to the FDA’s minutes, “http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/07/minutes/2007-4323m1-Final.pdf”, see page 6. The FDA made a public advisory in January 2008 about never using it for children under 2, because the Drug companies are fighting them on the panels ruling to never use cold and cough medications on children 2 to 6. Since these drugs were previously allowed by the FDA, the FDA is forced to go though “due process” before they are willing to make an official public statement about never giving these medications to children 2 to 6.

3. The number of infant deaths attributed to cold and cough medicines is dramatically underreported. New research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics demonstrated that there were at least “10 unexpected infant deaths that were associated with cold-medication” in 2006 alone in the state of Arizona. Extrapolated over the US and Canadian population, that would be over 500 deaths a year associated with cold-medication! (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/122/2/e318)

The thing that the drug companies don’t want anyone to know is that these medications never underwent the rigorous safety and effectiveness studies modern medications have to go though, they we grandfathered in the early 1970’s because at that time experts felt like they seemed to work, and they seemed safe enough.

Interestingly, some researchers from Penn State have shown that Buckwheat honey is better then the OTC drugs for children’s cough. There is a web site that talks about this, and gives lots of research to help parents be better informed about how to help their kids. Check out http://www.honeydontcough.com/

-Daddydoctor