Doctors Say No Codeine for Kids

The report is published online September 19 in the journal Pediatrics. The researchers call for better education of parents and physicians as well as further study of the risks and benefits of codeine and nonopioid analgesics for children.

Codeine is a narcotic not only used to treat coughs but also for pain relief after certain surgical procedures, such as tonsil removal.

Dr. Sunitha Kaiser, an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital, told the website Healthline that she supports the academy’s position, saying that it can be hard to judge how a child’s body will react to codeine. In those people, the drug is metabolized quickly and results in excessive sleepiness besides the difficulty in breathing.

The genetic variation is said to exist in around 10 percent of the US population, Health24 reveals.

Dr. Flick was part of an FDA panel past year that found no evidence codeine works for cough.

Many major children’s hospitals across the U.S. have already advised doctors to stop prescribing codeine, noted Dr. Constance Houck, a researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital and an author of the statement.

And Dr. Flick says when it comes to treating pain after tonsillectomies, medications like Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen are also becoming more common. Other pain relievers are available for coughs, colds, and pain.

In a recent report released by the American Academy of Pediatrics in the medical journal Pediatrics, the authors warned about the dangers and risks of prescribing codeine to children, under the age of 18.

Given the slow response to this health threat, the AAP decided to make a “stronger push” against the use of codeine in children, report author Joseph Tobias, M.D., chief of anesthesiology and pain medicine for Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, told HealthDay.

While codeine provides little relief for some patients, it can have too strong of an effect on others.

Codeine can be addictive if misused.

“Now, lo and behold, we’re learning that due to this genetic variation it’s a very unsafe medication”, Tobias added.

The authors noted that codeine can be prescribed in the context of outpatient surgery, such as a tonsillectomy, and in fact, otolaryngologists were the most frequent prescribers of codeine (19.6%), followed by dentists (13.3%) and pediatricians (12.7%).