The AEP recommends avoiding child self-medication during vacations
Use the domestic first aid kit to self-medicate when something hurts something is a common practice in our country, so much so that the figure reaches 72 percent in the case of adults. However, more worrying is the pediatric self-medication, also called medication "by proxy", and when dealing with children it is not an autonomous, free and voluntary decision of the patient, but in 90% of the cases it is carried out by the mothers and it can lead to an irresponsible practice with potential adverse effects that are difficult to foresee.
Thus, a study published in the journal of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, Anales de Pediatría, and which is part of the Doctoral Thesis Work of María Valenzuela Ortiz, has revealed that "32% of minors who come to the emergency room have been previously self-medicated, being the mother in 90% of the cases the person indicating the medication".
"The mother's habit of self-medication is most often associated with self-medication for children. Our results seem to confirm that the mother's training in the identification of symptoms, based on experience with her other children, allows her to acquire certain "competencies" to indicate the administration of a medication, which she considers generally suitable for the prescription made by a physician. doctor in processes interpreted as similar ", says Dr. José Uberos, communication officer of the research team in that article, and Pediatric Service Faculty of San Cecilio University Hospital of Granada, this reasoning agrees with the origin of the medications used to self-medication, since 84.9% are remnants of previous treatments.
Frequency of self-medication and number of children
The level of studies of the mother and the order that the child occupies in the number of siblings also influences the frequency in which the mother self-medicates her children. According to Dr. José Uberos, "the study reveals that mothers with medium and higher education are those who most often self-medicate the child."
And also, it has been proven that the frequency of self-medication is significantly associated with the number of children, being more frequent in the large families (with more than three children) and with the order that the patient occupies in the group of his brothers, being older the more advanced is the order of birth. "This frequency of self-medication could be explained by the experience acquired by the mother in previous children.With age they feel trained to treat the same symptomatology observed in previous children," clarifies the research team.
However, "medication 'by proxy' is lower in children under two years, due to the perception of the mother of greater vulnerability of their children at younger ages, which induces them to medicate more by prescription than by self-medication, "says the expert. 62.6% of self-medicated patients received a single medication.
So, when do we take the children to the ER? The study reveals that 45.3% of families attend in the first 6 hours, 25.6% attend between 6-12 hours and the rest with decreasing frequencies. "We could conclude, in view of the data, that the medication 'by proxy' could delay the medical consultation, forcing, in cases not resolved to go to the emergency room, however, we must bear in mind that the study also shows that self-medication is more frequent when the time elapsed from the onset of symptoms to the consultation is greater. "
What's in the domestic kit?
The 'first-aid kit' is the main source of origin of medicines used in the self-medication of minors, "as a general rule it is surpluses of previous treatments and less frequently, their free acquisition, not requiring most medical prescription ", indicates doctor Uberos. The antipyretics (in 56.8%) and antitussives and mucolytics (40.3) predominate over the other drugs. Most of the medications used are left over from previous treatments (84.9%) and those acquired expressly for this episode represent only 11.9%. The choice of medication was due to previous prescription to another child (49%), previous prescription to the same child (44%) and extraclinical recommendation (7%).
Self-medicate 'by proxy' on holidays
Vacations are often a concern for parents when children get sick when they find themselves out of their usual health environment. "It is not the same to go to a city, which will have pharmacies, health centers and even hospitals, to go to a town where it may be more difficult to access some kind of health care, and it is not the same to stay in Spain as to go abroad. .In this case, it is not the same to stay inside the European Union as to leave it, "explains Dr. Roi Piñeiro of the Medicines Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP).
The family travel kit
This is the basic kit that should accompany any family on all trips, in the opinion of Dr. Piñeiro:
- The health card, the health documents of the little ones and the updated vaccination calendar.
- Everything necessary to heal a wound: antiseptics such as chlorhexidine or povidone-iodine and healing material (gauze, bandages and plasters, mainly).
- Paracetamol or ibuprofen analgesics, whether for pain or to improve the general condition of children if fever appears.
- A flashlight, thermometer, scissors, tweezers and wipes and handkerchiefs (many).
- Bottles of physiological saline, (They come well to clean wounds, a foreign body that can be put in the eyes or for symptomatic relief of mucus).
- Protectors and creams to use after exposure to the sun.
- An antihistamine It can be a good option as symptomatic relief of bites or onset of hives.
In this sense, Dr. Piñeiro says that it is not necessary to carry "neither mucolytics, antitussives, antiemetics, or antidiarrheals, if children start with gastroenteritis, it is advisable to maintain a good hydration state, and if the picture worsens, go to a health center and start a symptomatic treatment against vomiting and diarrhea. "
And finally, the doctor warns, "they should not take antibiotics, they should be prescribed by a pediatrician and each one has a specific use, not all are the same, they should not be taken unless it obviously coincides that the child is finishing some treatment" .
Case apart are children with some chronic pathology. In this case, you must take into account what type of medication you need, how long you are going to be out and the maintenance conditions that such drugs require. In case you are going to leave Spain, you should always ask at the embassy of the country of destination if there is any problem when transporting the drugs that the child needs. "The last medical report of the pediatric specialist that follows the child should never be forgotten in these cases, and it is very useful information for the pediatrician if one has to go to a health center during the holidays", concludes Dr. Piñeiro.
Marisol Nuevo Espín
Advice: Doctor Roi Piñeiro of the Medicines Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics AEP