OTC industry efforts contribute to decline in pediatric emergency room visits

WASHINGTON – There has been a declining number of emergency department visits due to children ingesting medications without supervision since 2010, according to an article published in Pediatrics the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, on Tuesday. 

 

After rising steadily from 2004 through 2010, the number of ED visits for these exposures peaked in 2010. According to the article, after 2010 this trend reversed, and visits decreased by an average of 6.7% annually.

 

“Keeping young children safe by preventing them from accidentally ingesting medicines while unsupervised is of the utmost importance to the makers of over-the-counter medicines,” stated Scott Melville, president and CEO for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. “We are encouraged that this decrease demonstrates that industry’s voluntary labeling and packaging efforts as well as our educational partnerships are keeping kids safe," he said. 

 

CHPA is involved in a number of long-term efforts targeted at preventing accidental, unsupervised ingestion of medicines by young children. "The most impactful solution is storing all medicines up and away and out of children's reach and sight every time they are used," Melville said. "Through Up and Away and Out of Sight, a campaign led by CHPA’s Educational Foundation and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s PROTECT Initiative, CHPA works to remind parents and caregivers to take this step."

 

CHPA member manufacturers also voluntarily added flow restrictors to infants’ and children’s liquid acetaminophen products in 2011. Flow restrictors are one tool for parents in keeping their children safe because they reduce the amount of medicine that can be ingested if the package is not properly closed or if the child-resistant packaging is defeated.