Antipsychotic use rising among teens and young adults

[IceWizard]

A growing number of teens and young adults are being prescribed antipsychotics, a new study suggests.

In particular, it appears they’re being used
to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) – a condition for which the
powerful drugs are not approved.

The percentage of teens using antipsychotics rose from 1.10 percent in 2006 to 1.19 percent in 2010.

Use among young adults ages 19 to 24 rose from 0.69 percent to 0.84 percent, the study found.

With roughly 74 million children under 18 in
the U.S., these small percentages add up to
large numbers of medicated kids.

“Great caution should be exercised in the
use of antipsychotics, especially for young
children,” said lead study author Dr. Mark
Olfson, a research psychiatrist at Columbia
University in New York. Olfson and colleagues analyzed prescription data from 2006, 2008, and 2010 as well as records from 2009
combining pharmacy and medical claims
information.

The records covered prescriptions filled at
approximately 60 percent of all retail
pharmacies in the U.S. Overall in 2010, approximately 270,000 antipsychotic prescriptions were dispensed to younger children, 2.14 million to older children, 2.80 million to adolescents, and 1.83 million to young adults, the authors write.

Antipsychotic drugs include Abilify
(aripiprazole), Risperdal (risperidone),
Seroquel (quetiapine), Zyprexa (olanzapine) and others.

For younger children, antipsychotic use declined from 2006 to 2010, the researchers report in JAMA Psychiatry.

Prescriptions fell from 0.14 percent to 0.11
percent for kids aged one to six, and from
0.85 percent to 0.80 percent for children aged seven to 12.

This is most likely due to increased efforts to curb antipsychotic use among younger kids over concerns about side effects such as weight gain, high cholesterol and uncertainty about the long-term effects of the drugs on the developing nervous system, Olfson said by email.

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