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Using medicine to treat colds among children under six years old is ineffective and may cause harmful side effects, a recent study says.
Researchers from Belgium and Australia published the results of the study on the British Medical Journal. To be able to look into the effectiveness of different cold medicines, experts analyzed subject-related articles from Cochrane Library and a search engine called PubMed.
After examining the information gathered, experts found no sufficient evidence that medicine alleviates cold symptoms. For this reason, the researchers said that doctors should be cautious in prescribing cold medicine even if previous studies show that it may be effective for children between six and 12 years old. According to experts, certain medications carry potentially harmful side effects like upset stomach, headache, increased blood pressure, as well as convulsions or uncontrollable muscle movements.
Instead of prescribing cold medicines, the authors of the study encouraged doctors to assure patients that the symptoms would die down within seven to 10 days.
Dr. Partha Nandi, an expert in internal medicine, strongly supports the outcome of the study. In an article posted on the website “Fox 47 News,” Dr. Nandi cited the results of the study and gave suggestions on how to help children with colds feel better.
Rather than treating colds with medicine, Dr. Nandi recommended that parents use accurate pain and fever medications to decrease children’s discomfort. Moreover, the doctor emphasized that patients with cold symptoms should drink a lot of water to stay hydrated.