Prescriptions for most-abused drugs rose

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Prescriptions for drugs most likely to be abused by young people nearly doubled from 1994 to 2007, U.S. researchers say.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York say prescription rates for controlled medications -- drugs deemed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as having the potential for abuse -- have gone from 8.3 percent to 16.1 percent among young adults and from 6.4 to 11.2 percent in adolescents during a 14-year period.

This was for both males and females and across multiple settings -- including ambulatory offices, emergency departments and doctors' offices.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found overall, a controlled medication was prescribed for young adults in one out of every six visits and for adolescents in one out of every nine visits.

"Physicians must balance the need to treat patients' symptoms while remaining aware of the possibility that prescription medications can be misused or shared with others," Dr. Robert Fortuna, the lead investigator, said in a statement. "At times, it can be a delicate balance between treating a problem and inadvertently causing one."

Fortuna and colleagues used data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.