Tweens and Teens Double Use of Diab... (sterol and bloodpressure medications saw...)

Tweens and Teens Double Use of Diabetes Drugs

Date:11/3/2008

sterol and blood pressure medications saw a more moderate growth of 15 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.

Except for asthma medication, older teens age 15-19 years old account for the largest percentage of children taking these medications.

The bad news, according to Donna R. Halloran, M.D., MSPH, assistant professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, is that there is more disease, due in large part to the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity.

"Our findings show that childhood obesity not only has long-term health implications, but also impacts children's immediate health," Halloran said.

However, she says, the rise of prescription use also indicates that more children are being diagnosed and doctors are increasingly using medication to treat these conditions.

"Our findings indicate that we, the doctors, are doing a better job of screening children and diagnosing chronic conditions," Halloran said. "A great example of this is blood pressure, where there has been a big push to identify and treat children in need."

In several cases, the rates of growth were dramatically higher among girls than boys. While boys still take more medications for chronic conditions, the gap has become narrower due to these increases.

The huge increase in type 2 diabetes medication use was driven largely by girls who saw a 147 percent increase over the four year period, compared to boys who saw a 39 percent increase in medicine use. Researchers say they cannot explain this pattern, which is not consistent with the patterns of obesity among boys and girls. However, increased physician office visits and therefore screening rates -- particularly for females -- could be one contributing factor.

Researchers say the greater increase of girls prescribed ADD/ADHD medication (63 percent versus 33 percent) may be attributed to increased efforts by physicians to identify ADHD in females following studies that su
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