Study Tallies Kids’ Bad Drug Reactions

More than half a million U.S. children each year are treated for bad reactions or side effects to medicines. So says new research published in the journal Pediatrics. The Associated Press wrote about the study September 28. The study was based on national data about visits to clinics and emergency rooms. It focused on reactions to both prescription and over-the-counter drugs. The years covered were 1995 through 2005. The numbers remained steady through those years. Nearly half of the children involved were under 5. Many of these were cases of accidental overdose. A frequent cause was that parents did not understand dosing instructions. About 1 out of 20 treated children was sick enough to require a hospital stay.