Pediatric Prescription Overload

Our children are becoming addicted to drugs - the legal kind. Pediatric prescription rates are skyrocketing and medical doctors increasingly turn to an ever-expanding medicine chest to treat childhood conditions - many of which have little data to support prescription use in the pediatric population and/or have been treated effectively without drugs for years.

In December 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported the latest findings by Medco Health Solutions Inc., which determined that roughly one in four children and 30 percent of adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 are taking a medication for a chronic condition in the United States. Nearly 7 percent of children are taking two or more such drugs, according to the company's research for 2009.

It appears that the growing childhood obesity problem in the United States could be partially to blame for these alarming statistics. For instance, drugs used to lower cholesterol are taken by 10-19-year-olds at a rate 50 percent higher than a decade ago. The concern with this trend is that these drugs are associated with weight gain and an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes; meaning that the cure for high cholesterol could actually exacerbate the problem.

The Medco report also indicated that medication use for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) is on the rise, with 13.2 percent of the prescription drug benefit dollars spent in this area. However, the greatest concern could be the spike in use of atypical antipsychotics. Traditionally used to treat schizophrenia, these drugs recently have been prescribed to children for a variety of psychiatric disorders.

Medco also noted in its report that since the FDA issued a suicide warning in 2004 for certain antidepressants, there has been a 23 percent drop in children taking these pharmaceuticals. However, the FDA has expanded to pediatric patients the indications for many new atypical antipsychotic medications, including Abilify, Zyprexa and Seroquel, which has the listed side effects of "signs of diabetes" and "large or rapid weight gain."

The National Center for Health Statistics reports that the percentage of Americans taking at least one prescription drug each month increased from 44 percent to 48 percent from 1999 to 2008. The percentage taking two or more increased from 25 percent in 1999 to 31 percent in 2008. In that same time period, the percentage of Americans who took five or more prescription drugs per month increased from 6 percent to 11 percent. Is it any wonder that in the United States alone, almost $300 billion is spent each year on pharmaceuticals?

The best way to ensure that your child doesn't become part of the pediatric prescription craze is to ask your doctor about drug-free treatment options whenever they reach for their prescribing pad. It's also essential to inquire about the safety record and research supporting the drug's use for children specifically. If you don't get the answers you deserve to hear, get more information before filling that prescription.