Gave you ever wondered what age you should start giving your child flu and cold remedies? Well the big drug companies say that no child under 4 should be given flu and cold remedies. On Tuesday drug companies said in a concession to pediatricians who doubt the drugs work in kids and worry about their safety.
The voluntary changes came less than a week after federal health officials said they also saw little evidence that the drugs work, but feared that parents would give kids adult medicines if the products were taken off store shelves. In addition, the drug makers said they will add a warning to their products that parents should not give children antihistamines to make them sleepy. These are allergy-relief medications often found in medicines that combine several ingredients to treat a variety of symptoms.Problems with OTC cough and cold medicines send some 7,000 children to hospital emergency rooms each year, with symptoms ranging from hives, to drowsiness, to unsteady walking. Many kids overdose by taking medicines when their parents aren't looking. Since a majority of the problems involve 2- to 3-year-olds, the industry's new instructions, if followed by parents, should help. "The 2- and 3-year-olds are definitely the highest risk," said Sharfstein. "More than 50 percent of the problem is with these kids. "If they don't have this stuff around the home, they're less likely to grab it and ingest it."
Pediatricians still support recalling the medicines for children under 6, and the Food and Drug Administration is studying their effectiveness for children under 12. But it could take a year or more for federal health officials to reach a final decision. The industry is also expanding an educational campaign aimed getting parents to be more careful in giving their kids cough and cold medicines.
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