What are the causes of abdominal pain in children
The Sustainable Health Program hosts Dr. Abeer Khayat, a pediatric consultant at Fakeeh University Hospital in the UAE, to open the following file: What are the causes of abdominal pain in children?
A new study suggests there may be a link between prolonged use of paracetamol and asthma in children.
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark have suggested that children who take paracetamol may be more likely to suffer from asthma before they reach school age.
This study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, adds new evidence to the possibility of a link between paracetamol use by children and asthma, although the researchers point out that this study does not prove cause and effect.
Lead researcher Hans Bisgaard called on parents to use paracetamol only when necessary, for example if the child has a high temperature, and stressed that using this drug remains useful in certain health conditions.
Bisgaard and his colleagues reviewed data from 336 children who were monitored from birth to age seven, and found that 19% of those under the age of three had asthma symptoms, but they were more pronounced in those who had taken an overdose of paracetamol.
Finally, the study indicated an increase in the risk of developing asthma before the age of three in every case in which the number of days in which the drug was taken doubled, and that there is evidence indicating that prolonged use of this drug may lead to an increased risk of developing asthma symptoms such as difficulty breathing and chest tightness, but the evidence for this is not yet conclusive.
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