Researchers reviewed 50,462 Medicaid narcotic prescriptions for children under three and found 4.1% exceeded the expected dose. About 40% of infants younger than two months got an overdose amount, compared with 3% of older children.
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Drug
Opioid painkillers used before or early in pregnancy doubles birth defect risk
A CDC study found women who took opioid painkillers such as codeine, oxycodone or hydrocodone just before or early in pregnancy were twice as likely to have a baby with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Researchers describe the overall risk as modest.
Drug
Acetaminophen boosts blood pressure
The FDA now caps acetaminophen at 325 mg in prescription painkillers. A 2010 Circulation study of 33 coronary artery disease patients found therapeutic doses raised mean ambulatory blood pressure to 125.3/75.4 mmHg from 122.4/73.2, without changing heart rate or platelet function.
Drug
FDA wants less acetaminophen in prescription painkillers
The FDA will limit acetaminophen to 325 mg per tablet or capsule in prescription combination painkillers such as Percocet and Vicodin, and require a boxed warning about severe liver injury. Over-the-counter products like Tylenol are not covered; makers get three years to reformulate.
Drug
VA Allows Some Veterans to Use Medical Marijuana
The Department of Veterans Affairs will let veterans in the 14 states where medical marijuana is legal use it for pain without automatically losing prescription painkillers. Doctors may still refuse, and veterans in other states are not covered. Alternative pain relievers follow.
Disease
Deadlier than Cocaine, Heroin, and the Swine Flu?
Prescription drugs cause most of the more than 26,000 fatal US overdoses each year, says the CDC's Leonard Paulozzi, and deaths from opioid painkillers more than tripled between 1999 and 2006, reaching 13,800. Painkillers have overtaken heroin and cocaine as the leading cause of fatal overdose.
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