Parents' behavior related to the use of over -the - counter analgesics for elementary school children : focused in elementary school in Seoul

Lee, In Goo; Paek, Yu Jin

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Among the over- the -counter drugs, non-opioid analgesics are widely used in Korea. Non-opioid analgesics may have potential adverse effects such as side effects, tolerance, and addiction when used inappropriately. Moreover, children have less power to make a rational decisions than adults. Therefore, the role of parents in analgesic use is more and more important in children. This study was designed to investigate the frequency of use of analgesics in children and the behavior of parents administering them.
METHODS
From April to May 2000, we collected questionnaires on the use of analgesics for relieving children's pain which were completed by parents from 3 elementary schools in Seoul. Student t-test and linear by linear test were applied to compare the difference between analgesic-administered group and non-administered group.
RESULTS
The subjects were 630 parents among 702 respondents. Common reason for the parents to administer analgesics to their children were common cold, headache, abdominal pain etc. Pain severity were high in earache and fever and lower in abdominal pain and headache. Among the total 457 (72.1%) parents were said to have kept analgesics at home. Acetaminophen and ibuprofen were the most common kept analgesics at home. Were more analgesic-keeping house likely to analgesics at home. Younger parents, younger children and mothers. Only 25.4% among those with analgesics at home gave analgesics during the last month. The administration rate was higher in the higher education levels (P<0.05) , and increased linear by linear according to the number of house -keeping analgesics (P<0.05)
CONCLUSIONS
Seventy two percent of parents kept analgesics at home. But only a quarter of the parents gave analgesics to their children. The administration rate of analgesics in relieving pain children by their Parents was higher in the highly educated parents group and showed linear increase in proportion to the number of house - keeping analgesics.