Three babies died and more than 1,500 were treated in emergency rooms following adverse reactions to over-the-counter cough and cold medications given to relieve nasal stuffiness and other minor symptoms, federal health officials reported Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautioned that these common symptom- relievers should not be given to children under the age of 2. The three babies who died were younger than 6 months.
The CDC’s warning grew out of its investigation of cough- and cold-remedy use in children between 2004 and 2005, which revealed that some infants had been given doses of the nasal decongestant pseudoephedrine that were up to 14 times the amount recommended for children between the ages of 2 and 12.
One of the infants who died had been given a prescription and an over-the-counter medication at the same time. Both medications contained pseudoephedrine. Pseudoephedrine can raise blood pressure, cause erratic heartbeats and seizures. The other two infants had detectable blood levels of dextromethorphan (a cough suppressant) and the analgesic acetaminophen.
“Parents really should avoid these medications at all costs, unless they are giving them to an infant under the supervision of a physician,” said Dr. Michael Marcus, director of pediatric pulmonology and immunology at Maimonides Infants and Children’s Hospital in Brooklyn.
Marcus said the drugs merely mask symptoms while the underlying viral condition persists. For ethical reasons, he said, a controlled clinical trial of over-the-counter remedies in babies has never been conducted.
The American Academy of Pediatrics first warned parents about risks of overdosing infants eight years ago.
