Ibuprofen could be good for more than just headaches; new research suggests it could effectively reduce pain associated with broken bones and fractures in children.
The findings are significant because commonly-prescribed oral morphine can come with harmful side effects, the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported.
Fractures are associated with between 10 and 25 percent of all children's injuries, and can be excruciatingly painful for the first 48 hours after injury. Because of safety concerns with prescribing codeine to children, there are few safe pain-reducing options for those who fall into certain age demographics.
"Evidence suggests that orally administered morphine and other opioids are increasingly being prescribed," wrote Dr. Naveen Poonai, London Health Sciences Centre and Western University, London, Ontario, with coauthors. "However, evidence for the oral administration of morphine in acute pain management is limited. Thus, additional studies are needed to address this gap in knowledge and provide a scientific basis for outpatient analgesic choices in children."
To make their findings the researchers looked at 134 children between the ages of 5 and 17 years old; they compared patients who took oral morphine (66 participants) with those who were prescribed ibuprofen (68 participants) to determine which was better at relieving pain in children with fractures.
The researchers determined both treatments are effective at reducing pain, but oral morphine led to more adverse events such as drowsiness, nausea, and vomiting.
"Given that morphine was associated with significantly more adverse effects, we conclude that ibuprofen remains a safe and effective therapy for outpatient management of children's fracture pain," authors wrote. "We hope that our results will provide clinicians with a foundation for rational analgesic choices for children with fractures who are discharged from the emergency department."
The findings were published in a recent edition of CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
