Most Sleepless Kids Prescribed Drugs: Study

Practice is widespread, even though FDA doesn't approve pediatric use.

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
Wednesday, August 1, 2007; 12:00 AM

Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 1 (HealthDay News) -- More than 80 percent of American children who visit a doctor for help combating sleep problems are given some form of prescription medication, new research has found, despite the fact that no sleeping pills are currently approved for use in kids.

"The concern with sleep medications is that we don't know how much to use and how long to use these drugs for children," explained study co-author Milap C. Nahata. "This is because many drugs used for pediatric care in general -- including sleep medications -- have been well-studied and approved by the FDA but have not been studied for effectiveness and safety among children."

Nahata is a professor of pediatrics and internal medicine and a division chair at the Ohio State University College of Pharmacy in Columbus. His team's study is being published in the Aug. 1 issue of Sleep.

The new findings complement a 2004 National Sleep Foundation poll that revealed that sleep difficulties are extremely widespread among the young.

That survey found that 60 percent of American boys and girls under the age of 11 experience some kind of trouble getting shut-eye at least a few nights a week, while nearly three-quarters of parents indicated that they would like to alter something about their child's sleep behavior.

Nahata and his colleagues noted that, in the United States, about 75 percent of all prescription drugs are not labeled for pediatric use, and not a single insomnia drug is indicated for use among young patients.

In their study, the authors analyzed data collected between 1993 and 2004 by the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

The researchers focused on information concerning survey patients 17 or younger with sleep difficulties who sought care as outpatients.

During that 12-year period, approximately 18.6 million visits were registered by children seeking help with a sleep disturbance. The largest slice -- 36 percent -- involved kids six to 12 years of age. Adolescents (aged 13-17) accounted for another third of the patient pool.