MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Daniel B. Horton, MD, MSCE Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science Rutgers School of Public Health  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In 2008, several professional groups made recommendations against the use of cough and cold medicines in young children: the US Food and Drug Administration, for children younger than age 2; cough and cold medicine manufacturers, for children younger than age 4; and the American Academy of Pediatrics, for children younger than age 6. Prior studies showed equivocal findings on the effect of those professional recommendations on physicians' behavior. We studied how trends of physicians' recommendations of cough and cold medicines for children changed after 2008 for different age groups and different kinds of medicines, including cough and cold medicines with and without opioids as well as single-agent antihistamines.  (more…)