In a report released by Medco Health Solutions, it was found that children were the leading growth demographic for the pharmaceutical industry in 2009, with an increase of prescription drug use among youngsters almost four times higher than the overall population.
More than one in four insured children in the USA and nearly 30 percent of adolescents 10 to 19 years old took at least one prescription medication to treat a medical condition in 2009, according to analysis of pediatric medication use conducted as part of Medco’s drug trend study issued on Wednesday.
Medco foresees the overall spending in pharmaceuticals to increase up to 18 percent through 2012, driven by diabetes, cancer and rheumatology treatments. Spending is expected to rise nearly 5 percent this year, and 4 to 6 percent the next two years.
The overall increases will be held back due to many branded drug sales that will succumb to competition from cheap generic versions by the end of 2012.
Although increases in drug use by children could fuel much higher healthcare costs as those young patients enter adulthood, Medco said.
“Looking at children was the real shocker for us,” Dr Robert Epstein, Medco’s chief medical officer, said during a conference call with Reuters.
In the past nine years, the most substantial increases in medications to children were from drugs for conditions not typically associated with them, such as type 2 diabetes and antipsychotic, Medco said. Some long-term childhood health issues also saw large increases, such as asthma.
What remains surprising, Epstein noted, is the “type of drugs these kids are taking. All these adult drugs are popping up in children, which is really disturbing.”
“The obesity problem is contributing not just to diabetes but to a lot of other problems,” he said, noting a 50 percent increase since 2001 in the use of cholesterol lowering drugs among those aged 10 to 19, a 24 percent increase in use of blood pressure medicines, and a whopping 147 percent jump in adolescents taking heart burn and acid reflux drugs.
Data for the study was collected from Medco’s top 200 clients, representing more than 40 million people. Childhood use of medications for type 2 diabetes, a disease once referred to as adult onset diabetes, rose 5.3 percent in 2009 and is up more than 150 percent since 2001, the study found. Girls between the ages of 10 and 19 showed the greatest increase at nearly 200 percent in nine years.
“We’ve got to get our arms around some very fast lifestyle modification or we’re going to have a real problem, having these adult illnesses show up in children who will have a changing life expectancy if they’re going to be sick from a very young age,” Epstein cautioned.
Another trend was the increase in children taking antipsychotics — powerful drugs used to treat schizophrenia, but more recently being prescribed for other conditions, such as depression and anxiety.
Use of antipsychotics has doubled since 2001 and more than doubled for girls, according to Medco’s analysis.
Some antipsychotic use has been linked to significant weight gain and the increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Use of antidepressants in youngsters dropped by 23 percent since 2004. The decline came after the US Food and Drug Administration released warnings of the increased risk of suicidal thoughts by children using those medications.
Childhood asthma rates are also rising, Medco found. Respiratory drug use grew 5 percent among children in 2009 and up 42 percent since 2001. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drug use was up 9.1 percent in 2009, although, the increase was more pronounced among young adults.
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