Over 3,000 people go to hospital emergency rooms each year because of accidental overdoses of medications prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, according to a new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Parents could prevent two-thirds of these emergencies by simply locking away the medications, which include Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, and other stimulants. About five million Americans take such drugs, and most (3.3 million) are under 19 years old.

Some of the emergencies were serious. One in five patients were hospitalized, one in five needed stomach pumping, and one in seven had heart problems. Common symptoms included rashes, spasms, muscle weakness, and abdominal pain.

This was the first study of ER visits and ADHD drugs. A prior study found that 25 people died between 1999 and 2003 from reactions to these common drugs, and 54 others developed heart problems.

This new study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Labels: medications, hospitals

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Doctors routinely prescribe drugs to hospitalized children that have not been tested on children, according to a new study by the U.S. Pharmacopeia. About 12% of the children taking such medications suffer harmful effects.

Researchers with Pharmacopeia, an agency that sets drug industry standards, reviewed records of 11,000 medical errors from 500 hospitals between 1998 and 2005. The errors involved 700 different drugs, causing 165 harmful effects  including the death of one child.

In another study of 31 children's hospitals for the year 2004, 79% of the hospitalized children received "off label" drugs or those that had not been tested on pediatric patients.

Only a small number of drugs are tested on children, because it is not required by law. Children with bi-polar disorder, conduct disorder, autism and other conditions routinely take "off label" drugs.

Labels: medications, research, hospitals

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