Doctors could be contributing to the national burden of addiction by prescribing anti-anxiety or sleep medications to teens.
Research suggests teens prescribed anxiety or sleep medications are up to 12 times more likely to abuse these drugs than those who were not, the University of Michigan reported.
A recent study found about 9 percent of the 2,745 adolescent participants had received a prescription for sleep or anxiety medication during their lifetime.
"I recognize the importance of these medications in treating anxiety and sleep problems," said the study's first author Carol Boyd, the Deborah J. Oakley Professor of Nursing. "However, the number of adolescents prescribed these medications and the number misusing them is disturbing for several reasons."
One of the most concerning factors is that these types of medications can be deadly when combined with narcotics or alcohol.
To make their findings the researchers grouped the study participants into three groups: those who had never been prescribed anxiety or sleep medications; those who were prescribed them during the course of the three year study; and those who had been previously prescribed them previously but not at the time of study.
The team observed those prescribed anxiety and sleep medications during their lifetimes but not during the study were 12 times more likely to be abusing someone else's medication than those who had never been on the drugs. Those prescribed the medications during the study period were 10 times more likely to abuse them within two year than teens without prescriptions.
Originally the researchers had planned to write their paper on adolescents abusing their own medications, but changed their course after looking at the numbers. This was the first longitudinal study to determine whether teens' recent use of anxiety or sleep medications has an effect on their likelihood to abuse other people's prescriptions.
"I looked at these numbers and said, 'There's a story here.' It just catches you off guard that so many adolescents are being prescribed these medications," Boyd said. "Why is it that our youth are anxious and sleepless? Is it because they are under stress, consuming too much caffeine or seeking an altered state? "
The researchers recommend better education and monitoring techniques for both adolescents and parents.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the American Psychological Association journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.
