A new study shows more children are showing up in the emergency room for taking toxic doses of prescription drugs. While the overdoses are unintentional it is enough for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to put out a warning.
The numbers
The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center found that exposure to prescription meds accounted for 55 percent of the emergency visits for child. Most of the drugs taken were high doses of pain killers or sleep aids.
“The problem of pediatric medication poisoning is getting worse, not better,” says Dr. Randall Bond, who also is medical director of the Drug and Poison Information Center at Cincinnati Children’s. “More children are exposed, more are seen in emergency departments, more are admitted to hospitals, and more are harmed each year.”
The largest part of increasing admissions, injuries and death was due to children finding and ingesting medication on their own. Experts say medications have become commonplace in the home. Parents and kids alike take more medications now than they did a decade ago.
The warning and prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established the PROTECT initiative to help prevent children from ending up in the hospital and educate parents about ways to keep meds out of the hands from children.
“Prevention efforts at home have been insufficient,” says Dr. Bond. “We need to improve storage devices and child-resistant closures and perhaps require mechanical barriers, such as blister packs. Our efforts can’t ignore society’s problem with opioid and sedative abuse or misuse.”
Parents should remember to keep medications high up, out of reach of children and take necessary steps to prevent overdoses. Be sure to dump medications that have expired or are no longer in use. Close all pill bottles and make sure those bottles have childproof tops.
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