Last Updated: 2008-10-07

Cough, cold drugs not for kids under 4, makers say


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Oral cough and cold medicines sold over the counter should not be used in children younger than 4 years old because of the risk of rare complications linked to inappropriate use, manufacturers said on Tuesday.

Most problems occurred in children who were given the wrong dose or who took the medicine accidentally, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which represents Procter & Gamble Co, Novartis AG and other big drugmakers, said.

"We're doing this out of an abundance of caution," the group's president, Linda Suydam, said.

"Research shows that dosing errors and accidental ingestions - not the safety of the ingredients themselves when properly dosed - are the leading causes of rare adverse events in young children," the group said in a statement.

The association said it made the decision in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which last week held a public meeting to weigh the controversial use of such products in children.

Manufacturers have maintained that cough and cold products available without a prescription are safe when used as directed.

But doctors and consumer advocates have called on the agency to reject use of the medicines in children as old as 12. They argued the products have never been proven safe and effective, making any risk too great to give them to children.

Reported complications have included seizures, stroke and other side effects.

FDA officials and the industry have already said the products should not be used in children younger than 2. The FDA last week said it was weighing what action to take in older children.

Agency spokeswoman Rita Chappelle said the FDA had no immediate comment.

Some doctors welcomed the move to expand the warning as a way to keep parents of toddlers from buying potentially dangerous products.

"That's the age group where they grab the bottle and chug it down," said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, health commissioner for Baltimore, Maryland, who last week urged the FDA to reject the medicines for those younger than 6. "There's a lot of concern about toddlers ... I think it's a big step forward."

Still, other advocates said the move did not go far enough and called on Congress to force the FDA to require all children's nonprescription cold products to undergo an agency review to prove they work before allowing them on the market.

Currently, the medicines are available under decades-old FDA rules that allow over-the-counter products to be sold without clinical trials showing their risks and benefits.

"The bottom line remains the same: that these products have never been proven to work in children," said Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families.

The industry group limited its ban to those under 4 because an analysis showed most problems occurred in 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds, Suydam said.

Companies this week are rolling out products with packaging that cautions parents not to use the medicines in such young children, she added.

Cough and cold medicines aim to treat cold symptoms such as runny noses and congestion. There is no cure for the common cold, which can be caused by various viruses.

Products available without a prescription include Wyeth's Dimetapp, and Procter & Gamble's NyQuil, Novartis AG's Triaminic, and Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol and PediaCare, among others.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association's move only applies to syrups and pills and does not include products not taken by mouth, such as nasal sprays, inhaled medicines and rubs.

Products containing certain antihistamines will also warn parents against using them to help their child sleep, the association said.

Both the industry and the FDA have cautioned parents to carefully measure the amount of cough or cold medicine they give their child and to keep the products out of reach.

Reading may help obese kids lose weight

- Last Updated: 2008-10-07


NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A novel, written with the help of pediatricians to include strong role models and positive messages about getting healthy by exercising and eating right, augmented weight loss in a group of adolescent girls participating in a weight management program, according to research presented at the Obesity Society's annual scientific meeting in Phoenix.

The idea that a book can help girls lose weight is "encouraging because it's fairly easy to implement," said Dr. Sarah Armstrong, director of Duke's Healthy Lifestyles Program, where the study took place.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 percent of children between 6 and 19 are overweight or obese, a number that has tripled since 1980. Intensive efforts are underway to find ways to help overweight kids lose weight and "most don't work very well," Armstrong said.

In the study, researchers divided 64 obese 9- to 13-year-old girls, who were already taking part in a comprehensive weight loss program, into three groups: one group read no books, one read a "control" book, and one read the "intervention" book called Lake Rescue (Beacon Street Press).

"This book is not just a story about a girl who loses weight. It's about a heroine who comes to understand her battle with weight in a very real and tangible way that preteens can connect with," Armstrong noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health.

After 6 months, the researchers found that the girls who read Lake Rescue had a significant 0.71 percent drop in their body mass index, the ratio between height and weight. The group that read the control book had a drop of 0.33 percent in their BMI, while the non-readers increased their BMI scores by 0.05 percent.


"The strength of the study is not in the magnitude of the result, but in the simplicity of the intervention," Armstrong said. "It is very rare to find an intervention, especially in this preteen age group, who are too young to qualify for medication or surgery to help them lose weight, which is positive in its message and has a beneficial effect on body mass," she added.