A study by Medco Health Solutions, Inc.,which handles prescription benefits for an estimated one in five Americans, reported that 1 in 4 children and teenagers in the U.S. is now on prescription medication.
On Wednesday, an AP report on the study said the number of Americans on medication in general has also risen.
Dr. Caleb Alexander, a prescription drug expert from the University of Chicago said in a Medill report Wednesday that marketing practices and drug company advertising bear a large responsibility for the rise in children on prescription drugs.
“There’s no question that the pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars on promotion and marketing, which definitely increases the use of prescription drugs,” he said. “In some settings this is good and some it’s bad, since underuse and overuse of prescription drugs are both big problems. The challenge we face as a society is trying to optimize the use of medicine to improve public health.”
“there is a subset of children … that require these [ADHD drugs],” Alexander said, “but I think it’s a legitimate concern that some of these medicines may be overused in children to treat conditions that don’t truly represent a serious deviation from normal adolescence.”
A related study on prescription drugs and children in the U.K released Monday detailed the rise in anti-psychotic drug use among U.S. kids compared to children from the U.K. It is published in the May issue of the journal Pediatrics. American children are said to be prescribed anti-psychotic medication at a rate that is 6 times that of children in the U.K.
Dr. William Cooper, a Vanderbilt pediatrician, who was interviewed for an AP report on the U.K. study said the study's results point to drugs being used "without full understanding about the risks."
"I find it really interesting that we're now seeing increases in other countries besides the U.S., which suggests that the magnitude of this issue is global."
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