More than a quarter of children and teens in the United States are taking a medication on a regular basis. Close to seven percent are on two or more prescription drugs.
Prescribing medications to children can cause problems; many of them have not had their effects on children researched.
Even in ones that have, the consequences of using them over the course of a lifetime is usually unknown.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
"... [C]hildren and teens are ... taking a wide variety of ... medications once considered only to be for adults, from statins to diabetes pills and sleep drugs, according to figures provided to The Wall Street Journal by IMS Health, a research firm.
Prescriptions for antihypertensives in people age 19 and younger could hit 5.5 million this year if the trend though September continues ... Unhealthy diets and lack of exercise among children ... fuel the use of some treatments, such as those for hypertension."
Meanwhile, there's an ongoing discussion about which is more dangerous: alternative medicine or prescription drugs? ... READ MORE HERE
