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Side effects or accidental overdoses of medications are a common complication of outpatient care in children, finds a study in the October Pediatrics, led by Florence Bourgeois, MD, MPH, of Emergency Medicine. Based on an analysis of data from the National Center for Health Statistics, adverse drug events generated more than half a million visits per year from 1995 to 2005. Children age 4 and younger were most at risk, accounting for 45 percent of the visits, followed by 15- to 18-year olds (23 percent). The most common events were skin and gastrointestinal reactions. Antimicrobial medications accounted for the most visits, especially in young children, followed by hormones and neurologic/psychiatric drugs, a more common cause in adolescents.
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