Parents are putting their children’s health at risk by giving them Calpol too readily, an expert has warned.
It is claimed that excessive use of liquid medicine which contains paracetamol and similar generic brands has been linked to asthma and may also cause damage to the kidney, liver and heart.
UK-based Professor Alastair Sutcliffe, who specialises in general paediatrics at University College London, warned: ‘Parents are using paracetamol too permissively.
‘They seem to fear fever as an illness per se, which it is not.
There is evidence that the excess usage of paracetamol is associated with increased rates of asthma, increased rates of liver damage, but less widely known, kidney and heart damage.’
Irish Pharmaceutical Union president Kathy Maher said that while there are risks associated with overusage of paracetamol, managing a high fever with the proper dosage is important. She explained: ‘No medicine is without its risks.
If anyone is taking paracetamol on a regular, consistent, sustained basis, there is a risk of damage, and it you start that at a young age, there is a theoretical risk. But if we use it when it’s safe and appropriate, then there is no risk.’
The IPU president said that paracetamol is a very safe and effective medicine ‘when it’s taken appropriately’, but added that it ‘can be very dangerous if it’s misused’.
She continued: ‘In pharmacy, we always remind people to make sure that they accurately measure the dose according to the child’s age.
‘Sometimes a parent might say to me, “Oh, but he’s a big five”, maybe intending to use the dosage for six years plus. At that stage, we would say “absolutely not”.
You use the dose according to their age because it can be a developmental age, as opposed to the size.’ Ms Maher said the key to using paracetamol safely is accurate dosage administration. She explained: ‘I would never suggest that a parent use a teaspoon out of the drawer.
‘It has to be a measured dosing spoon or, even better, a syringe, because it’s more accurate.’ Parents are also advised to make sure that they use paracetamol only at appropriate times, such as when their child has a fever or is experiencing pain – and not when they are simply off form.
Ms Maher added that she ‘would hate to worry parents so much about paracetamol that they didn’t treat a high temperature’.
Doctors consider a mild fever to be from about 37.5C to 38C.
Guidelines from manufacturers Johnson & Johnson state that children should not be given more than four doses of Calpol within a 24-hour period.
A dose counts as one 5ml teaspoon for children aged six to eight, oneand-a-half for those between eight and ten, and two for the over-tens.
The under-sixes are given a weaker form of medicine and babies should only have one 2.5ml teaspoon four times a day.
A spokesman for Calpol said: ‘Calpol has been trusted by parents for more than 45 years to provide medicines specially developed for children. Our range of paracetamolbased medicines is designed to offer relief from mild to moderate pain and fever.’
Ms Maher said concerned parents and carers can always ring or call into their local pharmacy if they have questions, or visit the HSE’s www.undertheweather.ie website.
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