Journal article
The association between ibuprofen administration in children and the risk of developing or exacerbating asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Abstract:
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Background: Ibuprofen is one of the most commonly used analgesic and antipyretic drugs in children. However, its potential causal role in childhood asthma pathogenesis remains uncertain. In this systematic review, we assessed the association between ibuprofen administration in children and the risk of developing or exacerbating asthma.
Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Scopus from inception to May 2022, with no language limits; searched relevant reviews; and performed citation searching. We included studies of any design that were primary empirical peer-reviewed publications, where ibuprofen use in children 0–18 years was reported. Screening was performed in duplicate by blinded review. In total, 24 studies met our criteria. Data were extracted according to PRISMA guidelines, and the risk of bias was assessed using RoB2 and NOS tools. Quantitative data were pooled using fixed effect models, and qualitative data were pooled using narrative synthesis. Primary outcomes were asthma or asthma-like symptoms. The results were grouped according to population (general, asthmatic, and ibuprofen-hypersensitive), comparator type (active and non-active) and follow-up duration (short- and long-term).
Results: Comparing ibuprofen with active comparators, there was no evidence of a higher risk associated with ibuprofen over both the short and long term in either the general or asthmatic population. Comparing ibuprofen use with no active alternative over a short-term follow-up, ibuprofen may provide protection against asthma-like symptoms in the general population when used to ease symptoms of fever or bronchiolitis. In contrast, it may cause asthma exacerbation for those with pre-existing asthma. However, in both populations, there were no clear long-term follow-up effects.
Conclusions: Ibuprofen use in children had no elevated risk relative to active comparators. However, use in children with asthma may lead to asthma exacerbation. The results are driven by a very small number of influential studies, and research in several key clinical contexts is limited to single studies. Both clinical trials and observational studies are needed to understand the potential role of ibuprofen in childhood asthma pathogenesis.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 1.2MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1186/s12890-024-03179-3
Authors
- Publisher:
- BioMed Central
- Journal:
- BMC Pulmonary Medicine More from this journal
- Volume:
- 24
- Issue:
- 1
- Article number:
- 412
- Place of publication:
- England
- Publication date:
- 2024-08-26
- Acceptance date:
- 2024-07-22
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1471-2466
- Pmid:
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39187775
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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2023744
- Local pid:
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pubs:2023744
- Deposit date:
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2024-10-23
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Baxter et al
- Copyright date:
- 2024
- Rights statement:
- © The Author(s) 2024. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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