NEW YORK aEUR” Researchers have noticed a significant rise in poisonings among children due to the sleep aid melatonin aEUR” including a large jump during the pandemic.
The number of children who ingest dietary supplements aEUR was six times higher than the average of about a decade ago. This year, U.S. poison prevention centers received over 52,000 calls. Many of these calls concern young children who have accidentally ingested melatonin gummies.
According to Dr. Karima Lak, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and lead author of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s study, parents may view melatonin like a vitamin and put it on the nightstand. Lelak stated that melatonin is a medication with the potential to cause injury and should be kept in the medicine cupboard.
The hormone melatonin helps regulate the body’s sleep cycles. The authors stated that melatonin has grown in popularity as an over-the-counter sleep aid. Sales have increased by 150% between 2016-2020.
Melatonin in the United States is sold as an herbal supplement and not as a controlled drug. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has no oversight over melatonin’s purity or accuracy in dosage claims.
Researchers have also discovered that the label might not reflect what is actually inside the bottle. Some countries have even banned the sale or distribution of over-the counter melatonin.
Experts say that many people can tolerate melatonin in relatively small doses without serious side effects. Overdose is not possible to treat. Experts often recommend that a responsible adult monitor a child’s home for melatonin overdoses.
A child who has slowed breathing, or any other worrying signs, should be admitted to the hospital.
Lelak and her coworkers looked at poison control center reports from 2012 to 2021. They analyzed more than 260,000 calls regarding children taking too much melatonin. They accounted for 0.6% of poison control calls in 2012, and about 5% by 2021.
About 83% of the calls did not involve children with symptoms. Other children suffered from vomiting, altered breathing, or other symptoms. More than 4,000 children were hospitalized over the course of 10 years. Five had to be placed on machines to aid their breathing. Two children who were younger than 2 aEUR died.
The majority of children admitted to hospital were teens, many of whom were thought to have attempted suicide.
Melatonin poisonings reported have been on the rise for at least a decade. However, the greatest increases occurred after the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020. The number of cases rose 38% between 2019 and 2020.
Lelak stated that there could be many reasons. Due to lockdowns and virtual education, there was more time for children to get melatonin. The pandemic created sleep-disrupting stress, anxiety, and may have encouraged more families to use melatonin.
“Children were upset that they were not home and teenagers were isolated from their friends. Lelak stated that people are spending hours looking at screens every day.
