Both acetaminophen and ibuprofen are effective and safe to manage pain in children with supracondylar fractures.

A triple-blind clinical trial was carried out for comparing the analgesic effects of oral ibuprofen with those of the acetaminophen in children suffering from supracondylar fractures and undergoing non-surgical therapy.

The study recruited 64 children (mean age of 5.7±1.7 years) with supracondylar fracture and segregated them into either acetaminophen group (n=31) or ibuprofen (n=33) group. Using VAS (Visual Analog Scale) criteria, evaluation of children’s pain was done 2, 4 and 12 hours after taking the drug.

The mean score of pain decrease within twelve hours of drug administration demonstrated no difference between acetaminophen and ibuprofen groups, as shown in Figure 1:

Following twelve hours of drug administration, five and seven children reported significant pain relief in the acetaminophen and ibuprofen groups, respectively, with no profound inter-group difference.

Similar analgesia was felt by all the participants after 12 hours of ibuprofen and acetaminophen administration. In terms of pain relief and side effects, no profound difference was noted between the two drugs.