A recent study has found that Ibuprofen use in children can be linked to injuries to the kidneys. When our children are ill, we want them to feel better as soon as possible. Moms don’t like to see their children ill or in discomfort, so they will likely reach for the medicine cabinet to find something for their child to help them feel more comfortable. Tylenol is a go-to for moms, but the time it lasts is on the shorter side, so mom may go for Ibuprofen. Medications like Advil and Motrin have a longer last, and this can be seen as a bonus for mom.
According to HCP Live, a study was done that showed that there is a link between ibuprofen given to children and hospital-acquired kidney injury. This means that the medication mom thinks will help her child, may actually be causing more harm. When it comes to our children's health, everything is important.
The study was led by Licong Su out of the National Clinic Research Center for Kidney Disease in China and the team looked at over 50,000 children who were in the hospital. They found this interesting because Ibuprofen is the most commonly prescribed anti-inflammatory drug in the world. There have been very few large studies that have looked into any connection between the use of ibuprofen and the kidneys. When studies were done, they were often a very small sample size and their findings were inconsistent.
The study, which was published by JAMA Network, can be viewed in full here. Of all the children involved in the study, 11% used ibuprofen and 6.9% of them developed kidney illnesses while they were in the hospital. That is more than half of the children who took the medication. However, studies are done to improve the medical world, so it may be wiser to look at what we can learn from this.
The research team said that this information needs to be used as cautionary for doctors when prescribing ibuprofen to children, especially children who may be medically fragile or dealing with illness. They also suggested that children’s kidneys be monitored if they have taken ibuprofen. They could not give a definite answer as to why this happens, just that it does happen, and it is important to be vigilant when treating children. They also want to expand the study to look for any ethnic diversity or long-term data. The medical world is always changing, and it seems like as soon as we figure one thing out, something else changes and we just have to stay aware.
Sources: HCP Live, JAMA Network