Ibuprofen Better Than Oral Morphine In Children With Fracture Pain

Children suffering from bone fracture found that ibuprofen helped to reduce pain better than oral morphine, according to recent findings published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

For the study, researchers recruited 134 children who suffered from bone fractures that needed to b surgically treated and were between the ages of five and 17. Sixty-six of the children were given oral morphine while the remaining 68 were treated with ibuprofen.

"Evidence suggests that orally administered morphine and other opioids are increasingly being prescribed," said study authors Dr. Naveen Poonai, London Health Sciences Center and Western University, London, Ontario, in a news release. "However, evidence for the oral administration of morphine in acute pain management is limited. Thus, additional studies are needed to address this gap in knowledge and provide a scientific basis for outpatient analgesic choices in children."

Researchers found that when comparing the effectiveness of both drug options for reducing pain, not only was ibuprofen more effective, but oral morphine was found to cause more negative side effects, including drowsiness, nausea and vomiting.

"We found no significant difference in analgesic efficacy between orally administered morphine and ibuprofen. However, morphine was associated with a significantly greater number of adverse effects," the authors wrote. "Our results suggest that ibuprofen remains safe and effective for outpatient pain management I children with uncomplicated fractures."