Nadine Shehab|Melissa K. Schaefer|Scott R. Kegler|Daniel S. Budnitz
Adverse Events From Cough and Cold Medications After a Market Withdrawal of Products Labeled for Infants
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases|National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases|National Center for Injury Prevention and Control|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
voluntary market withdrawal orally administered overthecounter infant cough cold medications ccms announced october 2007 goal study assess ccmrelated adverse events aes among children withdrawalemergency department ed visits ccmrelated aes among children 12 years age identified nationally representative stratified probability sample 63 us eds 14 months announcement withdrawalafter withdrawal number proportion estimated ed visits ccmrelated aes involving children 2 years age less onehalf prewithdrawal period 1248 visits 133 vs 2790 visits 287 difference 154 95 confidence interval ci 259 50 whereas overall number estimated ed visits ccmrelated aes children 12 years age remained unchanged 9408 visits 95 ci 687411 941 visits vs 9727 visits 95 ci 664912 805 visits periods twothirds estimated ed visits involved unsupervised ingestions ie children finding ingesting medicationsed visits ccmrelated aes among children 2 years age substantially reduced withdrawal overthecounter infant ccms reductions likely require packaging improvements reduce harm unsupervised ingestions continued education avoiding ccm use young children monitoring ccmrelated harm continue recommendations updated october 2008 avoid use ccms children 4 years age