Saturday, March 20, 2010
Times Web Design
Commercial Printing
Rainy River Record
FortFrances.TV
VapoRub may vex airways of young kids
Tuesday, 13 January 2009 - 2:07pm
The work, done in ferrets, suggests the compound increases mucus production, which could overwhelm the tiny airways of young children.
“There are other things we can do to keep somebody comfortable,” said senior author Dr. Bruce Rubin, vice-chair of the department of pediatrics at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Rubin, an Alberta native, said that while the product and other similar inhaled aromatic compounds can make people feel better by creating the sensation that their airways are opening up, they do not, in fact, improve air flow.
“Because it doesn’t help the underlying problem, and as we’ve shown in our study can make it worse, particularly in children who already have small airways that are further compromised by viruses and the like, you need to be careful,” he warned.
Procter & Gamble Inc., which makes the Vicks line of products, recommends the salve not be applied under or in the nostrils.
And the official VapoRub website said the product should not be used on children under two years of age, although company spokesperson David Bernens said parents who want to use the product on children under age two should consult a doctor first.
The company questioned the findings of the study, however, saying it maintains a database of reported adverse events and has had no reports of respiratory distress in children treated with VapoRub.
“Our data would not come to the same conclusion that this study comes to,” Bernens said from the company’s headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio.
He said P&G receives, on average, about three complaints of adverse reactions for every million units of VapoRub sold and that those complaints generally report topical reactions like reddened skin where the compound was applied.
A toxicologist at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children also had some reservations about the study, saying the work—inspired by a case of respiratory distress in a toddler after her grandparents applied VapoRub to her nostrils—doesn’t prove that the child’s problem was triggered by VapoRub.
But rather than supporting the company’s position, Dr. Gideon Koren questioned why anyone would use the product, saying there is no scientific proof it actually works.
“I don’t believe you will find one academic pediatrician or respirologist who will say that it helps,” said Koren, who has published in the past on accidental poisonings of children whose parents mistakenly gave them camphor-based salves orally instead of applying them to the skin.
“It [VapoRub] is used widely. It has a strong smell and the public identifies strong smell with a strong drug. But there was never academically-based proof that it works.”
Rubin concurred, saying while the product may make people feel better temporarily, it doesn’t hasten recovery or improve air flow.
Bernens disputed those suggestions, as well, citing studies published or presented at symposiums in the 1960s and 1970s.
Rubin’s laboratory did this study after one of the authors helped treat an 18-month-old girl who was brought to the emergency department by her grandparents.
The little girl, who had an upper respiratory tract infection, had gone into sudden respiratory distress. Her grandmother volunteered that her problems had started shortly after VapoRub was applied.
The scientists did studies in ferrets—animals regularly used to study respiratory infections like influenza and SARS.
They first applied VapoRub to tracheal tissue taken from ferrets that had been euthanized for another study and then later used breathing tubes to have live ferrets—some with inflamed airways and some in normal health—inhale the compound.
They found that the salve increased mucus secretion.
While mucus is helpful in fighting respiratory infections, Rubin and his colleagues believe the tiny airways of small children might not be able to handle the extra volume.
Medical reporter THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO—Vicks VapoRub actually may inhibit breathing when used in or under the nostrils of very young children, a new study suggests.
The authors of the study, published today in the journal “Chest,” said the cold and ’flu season staple should not be used on children under two years of age and shouldn’t be applied in or under the nose of older children or adults.
“There are other things we can do to keep somebody comfortable,” said senior author Dr. Bruce Rubin, vice-chair of the department of pediatrics at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Rubin, an Alberta native, said that while the product and other similar inhaled aromatic compounds can make people feel better by creating the sensation that their airways are opening up, they do not, in fact, improve air flow.
“Because it doesn’t help the underlying problem, and as we’ve shown in our study can make it worse, particularly in children who already have small airways that are further compromised by viruses and the like, you need to be careful,” he warned.
Procter & Gamble Inc., which makes the Vicks line of products, recommends the salve not be applied under or in the nostrils.
And the official VapoRub website said the product should not be used on children under two years of age, although company spokesperson David Bernens said parents who want to use the product on children under age two should consult a doctor first.
The company questioned the findings of the study, however, saying it maintains a database of reported adverse events and has had no reports of respiratory distress in children treated with VapoRub.
“Our data would not come to the same conclusion that this study comes to,” Bernens said from the company’s headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio.
He said P&G receives, on average, about three complaints of adverse reactions for every million units of VapoRub sold and that those complaints generally report topical reactions like reddened skin where the compound was applied.
A toxicologist at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children also had some reservations about the study, saying the work—inspired by a case of respiratory distress in a toddler after her grandparents applied VapoRub to her nostrils—doesn’t prove that the child’s problem was triggered by VapoRub.
But rather than supporting the company’s position, Dr. Gideon Koren questioned why anyone would use the product, saying there is no scientific proof it actually works.
“I don’t believe you will find one academic pediatrician or respirologist who will say that it helps,” said Koren, who has published in the past on accidental poisonings of children whose parents mistakenly gave them camphor-based salves orally instead of applying them to the skin.
“It [VapoRub] is used widely. It has a strong smell and the public identifies strong smell with a strong drug. But there was never academically-based proof that it works.”
Rubin concurred, saying while the product may make people feel better temporarily, it doesn’t hasten recovery or improve air flow.
Bernens disputed those suggestions, as well, citing studies published or presented at symposiums in the 1960s and 1970s.
Rubin’s laboratory did this study after one of the authors helped treat an 18-month-old girl who was brought to the emergency department by her grandparents.
The little girl, who had an upper respiratory tract infection, had gone into sudden respiratory distress. Her grandmother volunteered that her problems had started shortly after VapoRub was applied.
The scientists did studies in ferrets—animals regularly used to study respiratory infections like influenza and SARS.
They first applied VapoRub to tracheal tissue taken from ferrets that had been euthanized for another study and then later used breathing tubes to have live ferrets—some with inflamed airways and some in normal health—inhale the compound.
They found that the salve increased mucus secretion.
While mucus is helpful in fighting respiratory infections, Rubin and his colleagues believe the tiny airways of small children might not be able to handle the extra volume.
More stories
