MILWAUKEE — Kids with a broken arm do better on a simple over-the-counter painkiller than on a more powerful prescription combination that includes a narcotic, a surprising study finds.
It tested ibuprofen — sold as Advil, Motrin and other brands as well as generic — against acetaminophen plus codeine, a combo called Tylenol No. 3 that is also sold in generic form.
The children on ibuprofen did better, said the study leader, Dr. Amy Drendel of the Medical College of Wisconsin.
“They were more likely to play, they ate better and they had fewer adverse effects,” she said.
Results were published online today by the Annals of Emergency Medicine. Experts praised the study as one of the few to compare medicines that have been long used in children based on how they work in adults.
The results do not mean that ibuprofen beats acetaminophen for everyday pain relief in children or anyone else, though.
The study tested a specific use — pain in the first three days after a broken arm — and the acetaminophen was combined with the narcotic codeine, not tested alone.
Still, it shows the best way to treat a very common problem: As many as one out of five kids will break a bone before age 10 — often, an arm.
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