US Pharm. 2008;33(3):99.




A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published online by the American Academy of Pediatrics revealed that an estimated 7,000 children ages 11 and younger are treated in hospital emergency departments each year because of cough and cold medications. Approximately two-thirds of those incidents were due to unsupervised ingestion.

According to the data, children ages 2 to 5 accounted for 64% of all adverse drug events from cough and cold medications, and nearly 80% of the events for this age group were from unsupervised ingestions. While the vast majority of children treated (93%) did not require hospitalization, nearly 25% needed additional treatment to eliminate the medicine from their bodies.

Recently, such products marketed to infants and toddlers younger than 2 years were voluntarily withdrawn from the market due to safety concerns; and the safety of these products for children ages 2 to 11 is currently being reviewed by the FDA.

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