Doctors Urge the Stop the Use of Codeine for Children

WARNING: Doctors are advising patients that are children to not take codeine due to its life-threatening effects. Codeine has been typically used to treat children’s pain and cough and primarily is prescribed after surgeries as a pain reliever.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a report published in the journal Pediatrics, with at least three pediatric deaths related to codeine in 2013. With raising concerns of the drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization, codeine is still accessible in over-the-counter cough medicines without a prescription in many pharmacies throughout the U.S.

When taken, codeine is converted into morphine by the liver and depending on the person’s body of how he or she breaks it down, it can provide inadequate relief for some patients while having too strong an effect on others.

Included in the AAP report, Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City stated, “While the number of fatalities are small compared to the number of doses administered over many decades of use, it's important we still draw attention to the fact that codeine is not an ideal medicine to treat pain."

According to the Chicago Tribune, more than 800,000 patients under the age 11 were prescribed codeine from 2007 to 2011. Specialized doctors such as pediatricians, dentists, and family physicians would prescribe codeine as a liquid/acetaminophen blend.

In 2012, the FDA has advised doctors to avoid prescribing codeine to children after surgeries by putting a black label warning on the drug. According to Newsmax Media, the FDA reported 10 deaths and three overdoses associated with codeine from 1969 to 2012. Due to the slow response of this health threat, the AAP has decided to take a different approach to prevent the use of codeine in children. Most hospitals today have removed the drug as an option for pain relief for children.

While over-the-counter painkillers like ibuprofen are proven to be less effective than narcotics, they are a safer alternative. Parents are advised to dose their children prior to surgery in order to minimize any pain and follow through for the forty-eight hours after.

"They're a little more predictable," said Dr. Amy Sniderman, according to the Chicago Tribune. "You could start with a small dose and see how a child reacts to it, and be comfortable that you can predict how the child is going to respond to it."