MOSCOW, October 21 (RIA Novosti) - In the United States every eight minutes a child experiences a medication error, involving over-dosage or a wrong prescription, according to a study by the Pediatrics journal.
"During 2002–2012, 696,937 children under six years experienced out-of-hospital medication errors, averaging 63,358 episodes per year, or 1 child every 8 minutes," the study said Monday.
The study was conducted, using data from the National Poison Database System during the mentioned period.
Despite cold and cough medication errors reducing, there was a general 42.9 percent increase of all other medication errors. Children under one year of age accounted for 25.2 percent of all the incidences.
The study also found that 96.2 percent of the erred medication was managed outside of a health center facility. Further to this, based on the studied cases, 25 children have died due to medication errors.
The study concludes that medication errors are a significant public-health problem that needs more attention, and suggests that drug packaging and their labels give more clear directions and dosage advice.
