Since over-the-counter cold medications for infants and children were voluntarily removed from stores in 2007, fewer children age 3 and younger were being treated at emergency rooms for adverse affects of the drugs, according to a report appearing in the journal Pediatrics. The medicines are now labeled with a warning that they should not be used by children under 4. Prior to the change, children younger than 2 accounted for 4.1 percent of visits to emergency rooms for drug adverse events. After the change, it dropped to 2.4 percent. Among children ages 2 to 3, such ER visits decreased from 9.5 percent to 6.5 percent.
— From staff reports