According to a Medco Health Solutions study, among adults aged 20 to 44, use of sleep medications doubled between 2000 and 2004. The money spent among the age group also jumped 190 percent over that period.
Among children aged 10 to 19, the use of sleeping pills is up 85 percent and spending up 223 percent.
According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 70 million people in the United States may be affected by a sleep problem, such as insomnia or sleep apnea, with some 60 percent of them suffering from a chronic sleep disorder.
Medco, citing NIH statistics, says Americans filled more than 35 million prescriptions for sleeping pills in 2004, spending $2.1 billion.
Global Sales of Ambien, the world's most popular prescription sleep drug made by Sanofi-Aventis, hit $1.76 billion in 2004.
The Medco study reviews prescription drug claims of 2.4 million Americans between 2000 and 2004.
