7000 Kids Hospitalized Annually for Taking Cold Medicines

January 30, 2008

(Long Island, N.Y.) In the U.S. alone, statistics have shown that in the year 2007, over 7,000 kids and infants were hospitalized for taking cold medicines either unsupervised or due to reactions caused when taking cough and cold medicines such as allergies as well as adverse reactions to contents of the syrup or tablets.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to parents two weeks ago in a released statement of the dangers in administering these medications to youngsters especially toddlers and infants. In a study conducted by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, children under the age of 11 are most vulnerable to develop undesirable effects when taking these medicines as their immune system is weaker than that of adults. There were over 7,100 case study objects to work with which sprawled across 63 hospitals all over the U.S. and about 1,600 of these patients where under 2 years of age.

With the results of the study and the report thereafter, CDC and FDA both concur that in totally disseminating the cough and cold medicines to children aging 2 years and below will decrease the number of incidents by 23% a year and new measure will have to be made and tested to treat infants with these symptoms rather than giving them medications.

“The main message is no medication left in the hands of a 3-year-old is safe,” said the CDC’s Dr. Melissa Schaefer.

Pharmaceutical Companies who manufacture and distribute these medicines nationwide refuted the findings of the study and expressed their dismay that these reports could cause damage to their businesses and operations over the course of the year. Linda Suydam who is the President of Consumer Healthcare Products Association said in a prepared statement “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.”

Posted by News LI Editor · Edited by Brianna - Filed Under Health