ATLANTA (AP) - The government says children taking cough and cold medicines without supervision is the biggest reason the medicines send about 7,000 children to the emergency room each year.
A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that about two-thirds of the cases were children who took the medicines unsupervised. About one-quarter involved cases in which parents gave the proper dosage and an allergic reaction or some other problem developed.
The study included both over-the-counter and prescription medicines. It also comes less than two weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned parents that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines are too dangerous for children younger than 2.
About 1,600 of the estimated 7,100 children sent to emergency rooms each year are under the age of 2.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement