Massive cold remedies doctors prescribe 20 million over-the-counter medicines for children

Children are prescribed by doctors especially cold medicine
In the winter half-year 2014/2015, pharmacies in Germany distributed about 20 million packs of prescription-only, but actually over-the-counter, medicines for children under the age of 12. Most of them are said to help with cold symptoms.

Children are prescribed especially cold medicine
Many people trust that the right remedies for common cold are natural home remedies such as sage, honey or sweat cures. On the other hand, there are many patients, as well as doctors, who tend to use drugs in such cases, including in the treatment of children. For example, an evaluation by the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) recently revealed that children are most likely to get prescribed cold remedies. The fact that this is an enormous amount is now clear from a press release from the "ABDA - Federal Association of German Pharmacist Associations".

Many children are prescribed remedies for a cold. (Image: Ermolaev Alexandr / fotolia.com)

Prescription-Free Remedies prescribed
According to the pharmacies in Germany in the winter half-year 2014/2015 from around 20 million packs on prescription over-the-counter medicines for children under 12 years from. This was determined by the German Drug Testing Institute e.V. (DAPI). The majority of it should help with cold symptoms. More than half of the packs delivered were for the three applications pain / fever (5.1 million packs), cough / cold (4.2 million packs) and colds (4 million packs).

Better to rely on tried-and-tested home remedies
It has been reported that ibuprofen for pain and fever, xylometazoline for cold, paracetamol for pain, and ambroxol and ivy extracts for cough are the most commonly used. It is said that these recipes have been used especially frequently in night and emergency service. Non-prescription medicines that are prescribed by a doctor to children under the age of 12 will be reimbursed by the statutory health insurance. In recent years, paediatricians have repeatedly pointed out that they can not use over-the-counter cold remedies for children. Rather, parents should rely on well-tried home remedies for common cold.

No data on self-medication
"We record the recipes anonymously, so we can not draw any conclusions about individual patients. But by analyzing other information on the recipe sheet, such as the year of birth, the DAPI can analyze supply-related issues, "Dr. Andreas Kiefer, Chief Executive Officer of DAPI. According to the press release, the DAPI has no data on prescriptions on private prescriptions and non-prescription medicines purchased in self-medication. (Ad)