THURSDAY, Jan. 9, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Most over-the-counter (OTC) pediatric liquid medication directions adhere to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration dosing recommendations; and maternal OTC analgesic use is associated with child use of OTC analgesics, according to two studies published online Jan. 6 in Pediatrics.
Daniel S. Budnitz, M.D., M.P.H., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues assessed dosing directions and accompanying dosing devices for adherence to FDA voluntary recommendations in 68 over-the-counter pediatric liquid analgesics/antipyretics and cough, cold, and allergy medications. The researchers found that the majority of dosing directions (91 percent) and dosing devices (62 percent) adhered to all top tier recommendations. More than half of the products (57 percent) adhered to every top tier recommendation, while 93 percent adhered to all or all but one of the recommendations.
Janne Fangel Jensen, M.D., from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional survey involving 131 6- to 11-year-olds and their mothers to examine whether self-medication with OTC analgesics among children is influenced by maternal self-reported health and medication use. The researchers found that maternal use of OTC analgesics correlated with child self-medication with OTC analgesics, particularly acetaminophen, after adjustment for several sociodemographic and health parameters and after adjustment for the child's pain (odds ratio, 3.00: P = 0.008). Maternal health did not influence child use of OTC analgesics.
"Maternal self-medication with OTC analgesics is associated with self-medication of OTC analgesics, predominantly paracetamol [acetaminophen], among school-aged children, perhaps more than the child's pain," Jensen and colleagues write.
Abstract - Budnitz
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Abstract - Jensen
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
