Many kids take too many headache pills: report

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Many kids take too many headache pills: report

2004-06-10 14:39:09

 

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By Alison McCook

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nearly one quarter of children and teens

with chronic headaches are overusing over-the-counter pain

relievers, according to new study findings released Thursday.

 

Overuse of pain relievers was defined as taking more than three

doses per week for over six weeks.

 

Most likely children and teens are taking this medicine because they

think it will relieve their headaches, and not to get any type

of " high, " study author Dr. A. David Rothner of the Cleveland Clinic

in Ohio told Reuters Health.

 

" If you have (children), and you give them medicine when they have a

headache, why shouldn't they think they can do it on their own, " he

said.

 

There are many reasons why kids shouldn't overuse these medicines,

Rothner explained. Some pain relievers contain aspirin, which puts

children under the age of 19 at risk of Reye's syndrome, a

potentially fatal disorder, he said.

 

Other risks of overuse of over-the-counter pain medicines include

kidney failure, liver problems, and intestinal and stomach bleeding,

he said.

 

Finally, research suggests that overusing pain relievers may cause a

once-occasional headache to turn into a daily one, Rothner said.

 

To investigate how often kids and teens with chronic headaches take

over-the-counter pain medicines, Rothner and his co-author reviewed

the medical records of 680 patients ages 6 through 18 who sought

help for chronic headaches. As part of a routine medical exam,

children noted how many times they took pain relievers.

 

Around 22 percent of participants overused pain relievers, the

report indicates. Overuse occurred more commonly in girls who had a

chronic tension-type headache, or a mix of tension-type and migraine

headaches.

 

Approximately one in seven kids said they took the medicines without

telling their parents. Almost one in five participants said they had

headaches every day, or nearly so. Most of the daily headache

sufferers were girls and students who got high grades in school.

 

To keep kids safe from overuse of pain relievers, Rothner recommends

that parents of chronic headache sufferers monitor what they take to

relieve the pain.

 

" If you see they're using the medicine more than twice a week, then

bingo! You've got a problem on your hands, and you've got to do

something about it, " he said.

 

The researchers presented their findings this week at the 46th

Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Headache Society in

Vancouver.

 

 

 

 

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