by Playfuls Staff |
6th March 2007
According to Canadian researchers, the best medicine for a child in pain from broken bones is ibuprofen.
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The same goes for bruises or sprains, the three generically called acute musculoskeletal injuries. The researchers from Ottawa conducted a head-to-head study of three painkillers, ibuprofen, acetaminophen and codeine.
"All of the children had some improvement in pain. . . . But ibuprofen seemed to give a better improvement in pain," said Dr. Amy Plint of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, one of the authors of the study.
Some 300 children, aged 6 to 17, were treated at the hospital. They had been admitted to the emergency department, all of them suffering from broken bones, sprains or bruises. The kids were randomly assigned to receive standard doses of one of the three painkillers.
They were then asked to rate the intensity of their pain periodically on a 100-point scale. While half an hour later, ratings were similar in the three groups, 60 minutes later, scores for children who got ibuprofen had dropped 24 points, compared with 12 points for the acetaminophen group and 11 points for the codeine group.
Also at 60 minutes, about half the ibuprofen children reported what doctors considered "adequate" pain relief, or scores below 30, compared with 40 per cent of the codeine children and 36 per cent of the acetaminophen group.
At 120 minutes, ibuprofen was still more effective as a pain reliever. Acetaminophen and codeine did not differ significantly in their ability to reduce pain or bring more children below the adequate analgesia level.
Half the children given ibuprofen reported sufficient pain control, which points out this particular medicine as most recommended for children with traumatic musculoskeletal injury.
The researchers say the other half might need additional medication. "Other pain medications may be needed in addition to it. And we haven't clearly defined what other medications might be effective," Plint said.
In the US ibuprofen is marketed as Motrin and Advil, and acetaminophen is marketed as Tylenol. Both are also available in generic form. In the UK acetaminophen is known as paracetamol. Codeine is often used in combination with other painkillers.
