Ibuprofen beat stronger drugs for some pain in children, study says
Fewer adverse effects were seen
MILWAUKEE - Children with a broken arm do better on a simple over-the-counter painkiller than on a more powerful prescription combination that includes a narcotic, a new study finds.
Ibuprofen, sold as Advil, Motrin and other brands, was tested against acetaminophen plus codeine - a combo called Tylenol No. 3 that is also sold in generic form.
The children on ibuprofen did better, said the study leader, Dr. Amy Drendel of the Medical College of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee.
“They were more likely to play, they ate better, and they had fewer adverse effects,’’ she said.
Results were published online today by the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
Specialists praised the study as one of the few to compare medicines that have been long used in children because of how they work in adults.
“We want to start with what’s effective and less likely to cause problem,’’ and in this case, it turned out to be a cheap, over-the-counter drug, said Dr. Knox Todd, an emergency medicine pain researcher at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York and a member of the American Pain Society’s board of directors.
The results do not mean that ibuprofen beats acetaminophen for everyday pain relief in children or anyone else, though.
The study tested a specific use - pain in the first three days after a broken arm - and the acetaminophen was combined with the narcotic codeine, not tested alone.
Still, it shows the best way to treat a very common problem: As many as one out of five kids will break a bone before age 10 - often, an arm.
