Pediatric obesity drives use of blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes drugs by children up 15 percent
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
The childhood obesity epidemic in the United States continues to worsen, as parents are resorting to greater reliance on prescription drugs for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes than ever before. As CVS Caremark reports in a new study:
…over a two-and-a-half year period ending in June 2007, the use of medications to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes among children increased 15.2%…
“The increasing use of antidiabetic and antihypertensive medications in this younger population likely reflects the rise of pediatric obesity and a failure of lifestyle changes to control cardiovascular risk factors typically associated with adults,” said Josh Liberman, Ph.D., Vice President, Strategic Research CVS Caremark and lead author of the study…
The study was designed to document trends in the use of prescription medications indicated for the treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol among children and adolescents over a time period that spanned close to three years. Results found that the one-month prevalence of use of these medications increased 15.2%, from 3.3 per 1,000 youths in November 2004 to 3.8 per 1,000 youths in June 2007…
“There is growing recognition that childhood obesity is nearing an epidemic and, as a result, consensus treatment guidelines for the associated cardiovascular conditions and risk factors recommend the introduction of pharmaceutical treatments if life style and behavioral modifications fail to achieve desired results,” said Dr. Liberman…
The study looked at drug usage data for about six million U.S. children aged six to 18, based on CVS Caremark PBM pharmacy insurance claims records.
