Rx Sleep Aid Use Growing Rapidly

The use of sleep medication and the costassociated with the prescription drugs areclimbing, especially among the youngerpopulation. In a 4-year period (between2000 and 2004), sleep medication usedoubled for adults aged 20 to 44. The groupalso showed a 190% jump in money spentfor a restful night over that period. An evenmore surprising result from the study wasthe number of children aged 10 to 19 whouse sleep aids. The use of sleep medicationwent up by 85%, and spending soaredby 223% over 2000 levels for that group.

Conducted by Medco Health Solutions,the analysis from the first 6 months of 2004revealed that 15% of children taking sleepmedication also were taking drugs to treatattention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Itwas unclear, however, whether the disorderor the medication treating it was thecause of the sleep problems. Women aremore likely to use sleep aids, comparedwith men. The data showed a 58% higherrate among women aged 20 to 64.