Doubling of Prescription Medication Use in Children in Three Year Period
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of children on prescription medications in the last few years, as Liz Szabo wrote today in USA Today “Number of kids on medication jumps alarmingly: Most of the illnesses related to obesity”. From 2002-2005 there was a doubling of kids on prescription medications for Type 2 diabetes. There was also an increase in kids on medications for cholesterol, asthma, and ADHD. The article noted that diet and lack of exercise are responsible for the increase.
However, I don’t think that our main stream media are giving us very good advice about what we should be doing to help our kids avoid these trends. Maybe that is because us doctors doing the research are so muddled and mucked up with our preconceived notions, conflicts of interest, and various biases. One of the mainstream medias main recommendations are that we should choose a low-fat diet, but as others have pointed out, low-fat means subsituting calories in the form of carbohydrates, which probably are worse in terms of inducing diabetes. There has been some discussion on this blog (e.g., see “The Naked Emperor and Saturated Fat” about the nature of fats, carbohydrates and cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and I have been reading some new books on the topic and will post on that later.
The Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group Study, however, did implicate diet and lack of exercise in Type 2 diabetes. The study showed that at-risk individuals who met with a nutritionist who helped them change their diet and lifestyle (more exercise, less fat and saturated fat, more fiber) cut their risk of developing diabetes by 58%, even though they only lost 8 pounds on average. Prevention of diabetes with lifestyle intervention was better than medication (metformin), with a 58% reduction in new onset diabetes in at risk patients, compared to 31% for metformin. Eleven percent of patients on placebo developed diabetes in one year, compared to 8% on metformin, and 5% with the lifestyle intervention (DPPRG 2002). Patients on metformin had more gastrointestinal side effects than the other groups.
DPPRG (2002): Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. New England Journal of Medicine 346:393-403.
[originally posted Nov 3, 2008]
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By Gianna, January 26, 2009 @ 3:50 pm
hey it’s looking great and I already have you on my Google reader…did that yesterday…
as long as you’re talking about kids here I’m gonna plug my blog which I usually don’t in comments…but this is horrendous…have already sent out hundreds of emails…hopefully it will be all over the blogosphere soon….
Children four years and younger being electroshocked in australia…
http://bipolarblast.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/children-younger-than-4-being-electroshocked-in-australia/
Doug,
do you have any idea if this is done in this country at all?
By admin, January 26, 2009 @ 3:58 pm
I don’t think so. I did a post using some Medicaid data on use of antipsychotics in 3 and 4 year olds that Lisa Van Syckel got through public records requests. Since then I read a paper on treatment of ‘bipolar’. Here is my view of bipolar
http://beforeyoutakethatpill.com/2008/11/bipolar2.jpg
This is more fun having instant comments than posting emails.
By admin, January 26, 2009 @ 4:00 pm
Caption reads “I told you I was bipolar”
By Gianna, January 26, 2009 @ 11:53 pm
hey Doug,
most wordpress blogs now allow for follow up comments to show up in email so you don’t have to remember where you left comments to check up on responses…
I hate to give you more to think about but it really does help the conversation keep going!!
By health care assistant training, February 2, 2009 @ 2:54 am
Type 2 diabetes can also run in families. – Could you please explain its meaning?
By Doug Bremner, February 2, 2009 @ 10:47 am
90% of cases of type 2 diabetes are related to diet and exercise. The cases of familial diabetes are less than 5%.