Non-prescription Drugs Pose Risk to Kids

Non-prescription drugs pose risk to kids

Some parents are giving their kids too much or too frequent doses of non-prescription or over-the counter medications for common illnesses which can put their children's health at great risk, according to an Australian study announced on Monday.

“Many children are being put at risk by parents' over-use of widely-available over-the-counter medicines for fever, coughs, and colds,” says the research done by the University of Sydney which was presented at a conference of the International Pharmaceutical Federation.

The research study involved 97 parents and day-care center workers as subjects.

“We were surprised and concerned to find that some people thought that medicines must be safe because you can buy them without prescription,” said Rebekah Moles, research group head.

“Taking all the scenarios together, 44 percent of participants would have given an incorrect dose, and only 64 percent were able to measure accurately the dose they intended to give,” added Moles. Just 14 percent of the subjects handled the fever scenario correctly.

The researchers pointed out that according to the New South Wales Poison Information Center, 48 percent of calls received in Australia in 2008 were accidental overdose involving children, with 15 percent of them ending up being hospitalized.

They think that the situation is happening not only in Australia but in most other parts of the world as well.

“It is vital that parents worldwide should understand the proper usage of medicines so that they do not continue to put their children's health at risk,” said Moles during the conference presentation.

Posted by George Daniels on Monday August 30 2010, 7:41 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0