In 2009, the increase of prescription drug use among children was nearly four times higher than in the overall population, making children the leading growth demographic for the drug industry.
One in four insured children, and nearly 30 percent of adolescents, took at least one prescription medication to treat a chronic condition in 2009.
Reuters reports:
“Over the past nine years, the most substantial increases in the medicating of children were seen in drugs for conditions not typically associated with them, such as for type 2 diabetes and antipsychotics … Some long-standing childhood maladies also saw large increases, such as asthma.”
