A new investigation reveals a worrying conclusion about the current trend among American healthcare specialists, which is to prescribe controlled drugs to teens in vast amounts. In the last 14 years alone, the number of prescriptions has nearly doubled, the report shows. The situation is really quite odd, considering that adolescents and young adults are the subsection of the population that is most inclined to thrill-seeking behavior, and at the highest risk of abusing and becoming addicted to prescription substances.
As such, the new report, which appear in the latest issue of the esteemed scientific journal Pediatrics, should be construed as a general warning, and treated as such, specialists say.
In studies of the 20-29 year olds age range, the researchers found that one out of every six visits to the doctor end up with the patient being prescribed controlled drugs.
For the 15-19 year old age range, the number drops to one in nine visits, which is still a lot. The drugs targeted by this investigation were separated into three groups: narcotics (or opioids), sedatives and stimulants,
LiveScience reports.
Each of the clinical visits taken into account was accompanied by a host of background data, such as for example the reason the patient visited, the drugs that were prescribed, the place where the visit took place, the demographics of the area, and the overall geography of the region.
“Physicians must balance the need to treat patients’ symptoms while remaining aware of the possibility that prescription medications can be misused or shared with others,” explains study expert Robert J. Fortuna, MD, MPH.
“At times, it can be a delicate balance between treating a problem and inadvertently causing one,” adds the researcher, who holds an appointment as an assistant professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center (RMC).
He was also the principal investigator for the new research. Data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) were used in the research.
The main conclusion was that, between 1994 and 2007, the rate of controlled drug prescription rose from 8.3 to 16.1 percent (in 20 to 29 year olds) and from 6.4 to 11.2 percent in teens.
“Physicians need to have open discussions with patients about the risks and benefits of using controlled medications, including the potential for misuse and diversion,” Fortuna explains.
Between 2002 and 2008, the percentage of people abusing drugs such as Ritalin has decreased, but the seriousness of each individual case of overdose has increased accordingly.
This made experts conclude that the behavior as a whole as decreased in frequency, but increased in intensity. Users that remain hooked abuse the substances more than they did before.
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