ADOLESCENTS GIRLS TAKING MEDICATION FOR TYPE 2 DIABETES TRIPLED IN THE PAST 5 YEARS, PATERNAL AGE?

Use of chronic medicines for psychotic behavior and insomnia doubled among boys and girls aged 10 to 19

Study: Diabetes drug use spikes in girls

"It's really scary to think about people in their teens developing a disease that in the past only developed in the 40s, 50s and 60s," Buse said.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The number of adolescent girls taking drugs for Type 2 diabetes nearly tripled in just five years, while use of chronic medicines for psychotic behavior and insomnia roughly doubled among boys and girls aged 10 to 19, a study shows.
Meanwhile, adolescents' use of drugs for depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, leveled off or dropped in the last two years, after widespread new warnings about safety concerns.

The study, an analysis of prescription drug use from 2001 to 2006 among 370,000 insured children aged 10 to 19, was conducted by Medco Health Inc. of Franklin Lakes, N.J., the country's biggest prescription benefit manager, and released exclusively to the Associated Press.

Experts say the findings raise questions about physical and mental health problems in youth, the appropriateness of putting them on strong, long-term medicines mostly designed for adults, and whether it might be better to focus on other strategies, such as counseling, exercise and changes in diet, caffeine intake and bedtime routine.

"There's increasing use of medication in children the last 20 years, but does that mean we're treating them successfully or that we're overmedicating?" said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. Probably both, he said, but some children aren't getting needed help.



A federal survey of doctors' office practices estimated a sixfold jump from 1993 to 2002 in patients aged 20 or younger prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, to 1.224 million. It found 38% of those prescriptions were for disruptive behavior such as ADHD, 32% were for mood disorders including depression, 17% were for developmental disorders such as mental retardation and autism, and 14% were for psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.

Meanwhile, Medco found use of prescription sleeping pills nearly doubled, to about 0.3% of boys and 0.44% of girls.

"The fact that these kids have to get a prescription pill to go to sleep at night is amazing," said Dr. Robert Epstein, Medco's chief medical official, adding parents should try slowing kids down at night with curfews on caffeine and computer use, for example.
He said Medco's numbers reflect drug use among adolescents covered by private or government insurance, but in general kids in the Medicaid program use more prescription medications and those with no insurance take