2023-12-12 16:28:51
The season of influenza and respiratory infections as well as Covid has begun. Teenagers who are often in a hurry to get back to social life and sports also end up in bed. Therefore they are very particular ‘sick people’ to manage also from a therapeutic point of view. “Adolescence is a very complex phase: children begin to be independent, they go to school, they want to manage themselves. Consequently, the adolescent tends to escape the administration of therapies by the caregiver, that is, the point of reference within the family. This means that the management of pathologies must necessarily involve collaboration on the part of the young person. One of the necessary requirements to obtain this collaboration is represented by the fact that the proposed therapies are easy, acceptable, comfortable, with few effects side effects and with a high speed of action. If you prescribe complex therapies rather than drugs with a bad taste, you risk compromising compliance.” Thus Gianluigi Marseglia, full professor of Paediatrics and director of the Pediatric Clinic and School of Specialization in Paediatrics at the University of Pavia, explains how to approach the affected patient.
“On the other hand, paediatricians of free choice have an extra weapon: the fact that there is knowledge of the patient from childhood and a relationship of trust built over the years is fundamental when it is necessary to prescribe therapies to a boy of this age who wants to have his say, who wants to start deciding on his own”, he recalls. This year, considering the circulation of both the influenza virus and Covid, are there any characteristic symptoms in addition to other respiratory viruses that may suggest that one or the other virus is causing it? “Unfortunately no. The symptoms that these viruses cause are common to everyone: persistent cough, fever, general malaise and tiredness, headache, widespread muscle pain and stuffy nose – he replies – Only the swab test can give a name to the virus which caused the respiratory infection.”
“I always suggest remaining at rest respecting the safety measures that we have learned in recent years. The use of antiperititic-anti-inflammatory drugs to modulate fever and reduce general symptoms is correct. Good news – he observes – for adolescents who they are in a hurry to heal. A recent study on an anti-inflammatory based on ketoprofen lysine salt confirmed a faster action, welcoming the expectations of the kids”.
Symptoms such as sore throat, fever and cough affect the daily life of adolescents, what are they looking for in the therapeutic response? “The answer is easy: the quickest possible resolution of the symptoms – he warns – Unlike the child and the adult who can be more tolerant, the adolescent is not: if he has a headache it must go away immediately, the cough limits their relationships? It must be resolved immediately. A concept of ‘everything right away’ which however is not so automatic in medicine: sometimes you have to wait for the symptoms to resolve, because the disease has to take a certain course. So young people look for speed , they want to feel better immediately and they want a therapy that lasts a short time. They cannot handle a prolonged and annoying therapy. Precisely for this reason we have tried to propose a rapid therapy, with a rapid drug, easy to administer, because it melts in the mouth and has a “excellent palatability, with a high speed of action”.
“We evaluated the drug on the main symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections. If the therapy doesn’t work immediately the teenager will tell you directly – continues the pediatrician – The most interesting aspects that emerged from the recent study are the speed with which the drug acts on all the symptoms evaluated and tolerability. A resolution of the symptoms in a very short time was observed, confirming the rapidity of the drug, characterized by very rapid diffusibility compared to other non-steroidal anti-inflammatories. Furthermore, we obtained truly important results in terms of compliance and tolerability, because no patient interrupted the therapy and none had any of the side effects evaluated. Another aspect – he concludes – to underline is the rapidity with which the drug acts on the cough, attributable to the anti-inflammatory activity of ketoprofen lysine on the mucosa to further support the very powerful anti-inflammatory effect of this drug”.
#instructions #pediatrician #treating