Most Sleepless Kids Prescribed Drugs: Study

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Just over a third of the patients were seen by pediatricians, while under a quarter sought care from psychiatrists. Another 13 percent visited family practice doctors.

In terms of therapies prescribed, the researchers found that 7 percent of the patients were recommended diet and nutritional counseling, while 22 percent were offered behavioral therapy. Mental health and stress management treatment was offered to 17 percent of patients.

By contrast, 81 percent of the children and teens were prescribed some sort of medication for their sleep issues.

Specifically, about a third were prescribed antihistamines, about a quarter were offered alpha-2 agonists, 15 percent were offered benzodiazepines, and 6 percent received prescriptions for antidepressants. A combined regimen of medication plus behavioral therapy was prescribed in just under a fifth of cases.

Patients who sought care from a psychiatrist were more than three times as likely to be prescribed a drug for their sleep trouble than those who visited a general practice physician.

The study did not explore how often the young patients actually filled their prescriptions, or why doctors so readily turned to pharmaceutical solutions to pediatric sleep woes.

Nahata emphasized, however, that his study simply tracked the types of sleep medicines being prescribed for children and the frequency of their usage -- it was not an attempt to gauge the appropriateness of any particular therapy. He believes further research is needed to explore such issues.

"And I'll say that, legally, I'm glad physicians can prescribe these drugs off-label for children when they need to," he added. "Because sometimes they can help. But the point is that, when these drugs are utilized for pediatric care, we need to exercise caution."

But Dr. Gregg Jacobs, an insomnia specialist with the Sleep Disorders Center at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass., said prescribing drugs often sidesteps the underlying causes of sleep trouble.