Number of children needing anti-obesity drugs rockets

Published on Wednesday 2 September 2009 22:02

THE number of children in the UK taking anti-obesity drugs has risen dramatically, according to new research.

A study found that since 1999, the number of under-18s on the drugs had risen 15-fold.

However, the researchers found most children stopped taking them before they had any benefit.

Researchers estimated 1,300 young people could now be being prescribed anti-obesity medication every year.

But the drugs are only licensed for use in adults, meaning they are being prescribed off-licence by GPs.

The study, published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, looked at the use of orlistat (Xenical), sibutramine (Reductil) and rimonabant (Acomplia) in under-18s.

Researchers used prescribing data from the UK General Practice Research Database between 1999 and 2006.

Overall, 452 youngsters received 1,334 prescriptions during the study period, and the prevalence of the drugs rose 15-fold among both boys and girls during that time.

Most prescriptions were for 14-year-olds, although 25 prescriptions were written for children under the age of 12.

About 45 per cent of the youngsters stopped taking orlistat after only one month, as did 25 per cent of those on sibutramine.

The researchers, from University College London, said it was unclear whether this was due to the side-effects – which include diarrhoea – or other reasons. Russell Viner, one of the authors of the study, said: "It's possible the drugs are being given inappropriately, or that they have excessive side-effects that make young people discontinue their use.

"On the other hand, they could be expecting the drugs to deliver a miracle 'quick fix' and stop using them when sudden, rapid weight loss does not occur."

Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), published in December 2006, said the drugs should only be considered for children and adults after dietary, exercise and behavioural approaches had failed.

The researchers said it was highly unlikely that the drugs were doing any damage, as short-term clinical trials had not found life-threatening side- effects in young people.

But they called for more research into the issue.

Previous figures for Scotland show that overall more than 110,000 prescriptions were written in 2007-8 for obesity drugs, up 6,000 from the year before and up 25-fold in a decade.