email article Children with severe central nervous system impairment -- including intractable seizures, cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, or neurodegenerative processes -- had multiple, concurrent high-distress symptoms, and those symptoms were tied to increased medication use, a single-center study suggested. Irritability (65%), insomnia (55%), and pain (54%) were the most prevalent symptoms reported by parents, said James Feinstein, MD, MPH, of the University of Colorado and Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora, and co-authors in Higher symptom burdens were linked to increasing polypharmacy -- most children in the study were taking at least 10 medications -- though only 61% of those affected by pain were prescribed an analgesic, the researchers noted.