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HEALTH

Huge spike in sleep drug use among children in Sweden

Sweden has seen a ninefold increase over ten years in the number of children using melatonin to help them sleep better, Sveriges Radio reports.

Published: 17 August 2016 11:42 CEST
Huge spike in sleep drug use among children in Sweden
A boy sleeps in his bed. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

Citing figures from the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen), the report said 23,000 people in the 0-19 age bracket used the prescription drug in 2015, despite its use not being formally approved for minors. 

“It’s a big increase, and there’s also increased use of other medicines used to treat sleep disorders,” Ninna Gullberg from the Medical Products Agency (Läkemedelsverket) told the radio network’s Ekot news programme. 

Melatonin is a hormone that occurs naturally in the human body. The medical variant has no known side effects but the health board’s medical expert Barbro Thurfjell said not enough studies had been carried out on potential long-term effects. 

Doctors are only allowed to prescribe melatonin to help children sleep if other medicines or methods have not worked. 

It is often used to help children return to a normal sleep pattern after they have experienced sleeping difficulties that can have a negative impact on day-to-day life.

Children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are often prescribed the drug.

HEALTH

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

Danish Minister for the Interior and Health Sophie Løhde has warned that, despite increasing activity at hospitals, it will be some time before current waiting lists are reduced.

Published: 10 May 2023 15:09 CEST
Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

The message comes as Løhde was set to meet with officials from regional health authorities on Wednesday to discuss the progress of an acute plan for the Danish health system, launched at the end of last year in an effort to reduce a backlog of waiting times which built up during the coronavirus crisis.

An agreement with regional health authorities on an “acute” spending plan to address the most serious challenges faced by the health services agreed in February, providing 2 billion kroner by the end of 2024.

READ ALSO: What exactly is wrong with the Danish health system?

The national organisation for the health authorities, Danske Regioner, said to newspaper Jyllands-Posten earlier this week that progress on clearing the waiting lists was ahead of schedule.

Some 245,300 operations were completed in the first quarter of this year, 10 percent more than in the same period in 2022 and over the agreed number.

Løhde said that the figures show measures from the acute plan are “beginning to work”.

“It’s positive but even though it suggests that the trend is going the right way, we’re far from our goal and it’s important to keep it up so that we get there,” she said.

“I certainly won’t be satisfied until waiting times are brought down,” she said.

“As long as we are in the process of doing postponed operations, we will unfortunately continue to see a further increase [in waiting times],” Løhde said.

“That’s why it’s crucial that we retain a high activity this year and in 2024,” she added.

Although the government set aside 2 billion kroner in total for the plan, the regional authorities expect the portion of that to be spent in 2023 to run out by the end of the summer. They have therefore asked for some of the 2024 spending to be brought forward.

Løhde is so far reluctant to meet that request according to Jyllands-Posten.

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