Thousands for child drug research

Premature babies are often given steroids or morphine

A charity is ploughing thousands of pounds into trials to check the safety of drugs commonly used on children in hospital.

There has been widespread concern about using a medicine originally tested and licensed for adults in smaller doses for children.

In theory, there should be no risk, but children's and babies' bodies function very differently to those of adults, and there may be unexpected side-effects.

Other doctors may use a drug "off-label", for a separate condition than the one for which it is licenced.

In addition it is very difficult to calculate exactly the right dose to give to a baby.

Action Research is to spend almost £250,000 on further studies on modern drug treatments for children.

Breathing problems

Researchers in Belfast will be looking at the long term effects of steroids, which are often given to very premature babies who have breathing problems.

There have been recent concerns that the use of steroids in premature babies could increase the risk of cerebral palsy.

Professor Henry Halliday of the Royal Maternity Hospital, Belfast, said: "Paediatricians and parents face the dilemma of whether or not to use steroids to improve their babies' lungs and increase chances of survival, while taking the risk of increasing the likelihood of developing cerebral palsy."

Experts at the Royal Maternity Hospital are embarking on a combined project with Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham to monitor the progress of 419 infants aged between three and six who were treated with steroids.

'Real worry'

Another team of specialists from Queen's University and the Royal Hospitals Trust in Belfast will also be evaluating the safety and effectiveness of well-known drugs such as caffeine and morphine, which are also commonly given to young babies.

Professor James McElnay, of the Queen's University School of Pharmacy, said: "It's a real worry for clinicians that dosages for infants and children are often selected on an ad hoc basis, based on adult dosages and a child's weight or surface area.

"The problem is that children are not just small adults, and we need to have appropriate evidence-based guidelines on which to base dosage."