According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, the 2007 withdrawal of over-the-counter (OTC) infant cough and cold medications from the market has substantially reduced the number of emergency room (ER) visits related to the remedies.
In the 14 months after the products were taken off the shelves, according to data from 60 American hospitals, the overall number of visits associated with OTC cough and cold remedies by kids under age 2 dropped by more than half.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently updated its warning to parents not to give OTC cough and cold medicines to children younger than age 4 due to the risk of serious and potentially life-threatening side effects.
In the December issue of Pediatrics, study authors noted, however, that for children 12 and under, most ER visits were still related to the unsupervised ingestion of OTC cough and cold medicine.
Regarding unsupervised ingestions by older children, researchers suggested adding flow restraints on liquid medication bottles to cut down on such accidents.