Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on data available on the trends in the prescription of drugs for children having behavioral disorders. The national and international standards on drug administration and prescription are referred to as benchmarks by researchers arguing for both points. However, it has been reported that there is a large gap in the information available on the safety and efficiency of drugs used in childhood. Several reasons are being attributed to this gap. It has been argued that the nonparticipation of children in clinical trials owing to ethical, financial, and resource-related reasons. Thus there have to be specific measures to ensure information for the optimal prescription of medicines for children with behavioral disorders.
There is enough data available to prove that there has been a marked increase in the prescription and administration of drugs to children. Specific researches focusing on children with behavioral disorders also highlight similar trends. (Zito et al., 2003) has concluded that the rate of psychotropic prescription in children has increased three times as compared with the rates of pre-nineties. A notable fact regarding this study is that it covered a very large sample size including almost a million children. The official records on drug prescription state that in the year 2002, alone 11 million prescriptions for antidepressants were issued for children less than 18 years of age. This notes an increase of 49% as compared with the rates of 1998 (Rigoni, 2004). Similarly, with the case of spending on psychological medicines, there has been a remarkable increase proportional to the increase in the increase in prescriptions. Connecting these two data, it can be assumed that most of the medicines which are prescribed are being administrated in children.
The spending on Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is reported to have increased by 183% in between the time span of three years from 2000 to 2003. (Medco Health Solutions, Inc., 2004). . .
