The news
An increasing number of children and adolescents are prescribed multiple psychiatric medications. According to a new study In the state of Maryland. Despite warnings that psychotropic drugs in youth have not been tested for safety or studied for their effects on the developing brain, the incidence is increasing.
The study, published Friday by the JAMA Open Network, looked at prescribing patterns among patients 17 and younger enrolled in Medicaid in Maryland from 2015 to 2020. It is defined as taking three or more different psychiatric medications, including antidepressants, mood stabilizers, anticonvulsants, sedatives, and medications for ADHD and anxiety.
The big picture
The study looked at only one state, however State data They have been used in the past to explore this issue, in part because of the ease of collecting data from Medicaid, the state-administered health insurance program.
At the same time, some studies using nationally weighted samples have found an increasing prevalence of polypharmacy among youth. A recent paper was drawn Data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey found that in 2015, 40.7 percent of 2- to 24-year-olds in the United States took a second psychiatric medication in addition to medication for ADHD. This figure is up from 26 percent in 2006.
The latest data from Maryland shows that the practice is on the rise in at least one state and is “most likely among youth with disabilities or in foster care,” the new study said.
Mental health professionals know that psychotropic medications can be very helpful and doctors have the discretion to prescribe what they see fit. A concern among some experts is that many of the drugs often used in prescription cocktails are not approved for use by young people. And it is not clear how the simultaneous use of many psychotropic drugs affects the long-term development of the brain.
Numbers
The final study looked at data from 126,972 people during the study period. In the year In 2015, 4.2 percent of Medicaid enrollees under the age of 17 in Maryland had overlapping prescriptions for three or more different psychiatric medications. This figure rises to 4.6 percent in 2020.
The number was higher for those in foster care, where the prevalence of multiple pharmacies rose from 10.8 percent to 11.3 percent.
“The findings highlight the importance of monitoring the use of psychotropic compounds, especially in vulnerable populations, such as Medicaid-enrolled youth with disabilities or those in foster care,” the study concludes.