Pediatric Cough and Cold Meds Revisited with Lisa Booze and Episode 247

MedicCast Episode 247
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Pediatric Cough And Cold Meds Revisited with Lisa Booze, PharmD, CSPI
In November of 2008, we did a segment on pediatric cough and cold medicines – their toxicity and information on regulatory actions at that time. I’d like to revisit that subject with some new data.
From 1990 to 2006, as many as 10% of children in the United States were given cough and cold medicines weekly for illnesses and cold-like symptoms. A few years ago, a group of physicians petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to relook at the safety of pediatric cough and cold medicines. What prompted this was the fact that there were more than 60,000 possible poisonings reported to poison centers yearly, coupled with the lack of any data that these products were effective in small children. In 2007, soon after the petition, manufacturers withdrew over-the-counter cough and cold products that were marketed for children less than 2 years old. In 2008, the FDA recommended that cough and cold products not be used at all in children under 2. Also in 2008, manufacturers went further in response to public pressure, and changed the labeling of products to indicate that they should not be used in children less than 4 years old. The FDA supported this action.
A study that was published in Annals of Emergency Medicine in 2009 looked at pediatric fatalities associated with over-the-counter cough and cold meds reported by 5 sources, including poison centers, over a period of at least 20 years (different sources included different time ...

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