Two-thirds of drugs prescribed for pediatric use not tested in children

Julie's Health Club recently wrote a thoughtful article on the lack of evidence for pediatric prescriptions. She shared that Western medical doctors are often skeptical when she shares a nutritional or natural/alternative treatment option to readers. Like Jerry Maguire's famous line, "Show me the money!", these docs say "Show me the evidence for your remedy!" Julie says "it's a puzzling double standard" as there is a serious lack of clinical research on the pediatric prescriptions many of these same docs are prescribing.

Beyond the title of this post, here are few startling statistics you should know:

• Nearly 80 percent of hospitalized children receive drugs tested/approved only for adults, according to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia researchers. 28 percent received morphine, even though the FDA has not approved it for pediatric use. Morphine in children has led to bleeding in the brain, among other adverse effects/outcomes.
• One study found 81 percent of doctor visits for kids with sleep problems ended with a prescription. Keep in mind, no FDA-approved sleep drugs for children exist.
• The FDA has not approved an autism medication, but 80 percent of autistic children are on at least one psychiatric drug.

Julie also points out drugs are usually the first treatment choice. What about the marked improvements seen in some autistic children following a wheat-free/dairy-free diet (e.g., Celebrity Jenny McCarthy's son, Evan)? But the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) won't recommend this diet due to a lack of evidence to support or refute it. Yet the AAP approves off-label use of medications for autistic children.

Julie calls for more National Institutes of Health funding to deepen the pediatric evidence for prescription drugs and alternative treatments alike.