Preschoolers are leading the growth in use of antidepressants by U.S. children, even though many questions persist about the safety and effectiveness of using these drugs on minors.
A study published in the journal Psychiatric Services found that children 5 years old and younger are the fastest-growing segment of the nonadult population using antidepressants today,
The study examined antidepressant use from 1998 to 2002 among 2 million youngsters ages 18 and younger who were covered by commercial health insurance. About one in 15 children in the United States is covered by commercial insurance, according to officials of Express Scripts Inc. of St. Louis, which conducted the study.
The research found that use of antidepressants continues to grow by about 10 percent annually among American children and teens.
But among preschoolers, the study found that use among girls doubled from eight per 10,000 to 16 per 10,000 during the four-year study period. Among preschool boys, antidepressant use rose by 64 percent, from 14 per 10,000 to 23 per 10,000.
Express Scripts is one of the largest pharmacy benefit-management companies in North America. It provides services to 50 million members. Its clients include managed care organizations, insurance carriers, third-party administrators, employers and union-sponsored-benefit plans.
Tom Delate, director of research for Express Scripts and lead author of the study, declined to provide specific numbers of children taking antidepressants in various age groups. But one table in his report suggests that nearly 30,000 children 18 and under were taking antidepressants in 1998; and that the total was 45,000 in 2002.
Prevalence of use is far greater among older children. The study found that in 2002, nearly 6.4 percent of U.S. girls ages 15 to 18 years "” or 640 per 10,000 "” were taking antidepressants.
Among boys that age, 4.2 percent "” or 420 per 10,000 "” were on such drugs, the study showed.
The new study was based on pharmacy-claims information from a random national survey of children and teens. "We're pretty confident" it is accurate, Mr. Delate said yesterday in a telephone interview.
Mr. Delate cited factors he believes may have led to an "escalated use of antidepressants among children and adolescents." They include rising rates of depression among the young; a growing awareness of and screening for depression by pediatricians; and assumptions "” not necessarily valid "” that available treatments should be as effective in youths as they are in adults.
Specifically, the study showed that the prevalence of antidepressant use among all children 18 and younger increased from 160 per 10,000 in 1998 (1.6 percent) to 240 per 10,000 in 2002 (2.4 percent). That was an adjusted annual increase of 9.2 percent.
"We demonstrated an increase in use of antidepressants by children without evidence supporting efficacy and safety" in the young, Mr. Delate said.
The authors of the report concluded that use of antidepressant medications among minors is continuing to grow and that it is "driven primarily by greater use" of a category of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRI.
SSRIs, the most popular antidepressants with American adults, include medicines such as paroxetine (Paxil); fluoxetine (Prozac), or Zoloft.
According to the report, the "growth in the overall prevalence of antidepressant use was greater among girls (a 68 percent increase) than among boys (a 34 percent increase)." The Express Scripts' study found that the use of paroxetine rose 113 percent in girls and 90 percent in boys during the four-year research period.
Several months ago, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a hearing in which the effectiveness of SSRIs in treating depression in children was challenged. The FDA charged that they increased the risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts among teenagers.
Recently, the FDA, Health Canada, and the United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority recommended that paroxetine not be used by younger children and adolescents, because of uncertainty about its efficacy and the potential risk of suicide.
Among SSRIs, only fluoxetine, or Prozac, has been approved by the FDA for treating depression in children and teens.
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Caution - Some posts may contain sarcasim
I guess there are circumstances where I can see that a teenager should be put on anti-depressants, but what in the hell is a pre-schooler doing on them?
I've often stated that I think doctors go way overboard in medicating our children, but this way beyond even what I thought was going on
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Caution - Some posts may contain sarcasim
I've often stated that I think doctors go way overboard in medicating our children, but this way beyond even what I thought was going on
I agree Jorgy things are out of hand , but dr,s cant make ppl take anything. Everyone should question what a dr does& says. More then likey quite a few go there & ask for these meds( like they tell you to do on all the drug pusher commericals on tv.)
Like they have been for yrs , going to dr,s& demanding antibotices for a colds etc...
But ya there are a lot of pill pushers out there that are dr,s too. It is the easy way out & there drug reps are happy & everyones making money( except the patients)
With all the drug pushing going on- there are still needs for some of those drugs, just not to the extenti dont think personaly what there claiming....but you know new markets, drugs, big profets.
but what in the hell is a pre-schooler doing on them?
Although this kind of thing makes my stomach turn, it is no surprise at all. Why are pre-schoolers on them? A couple of reasons - money, power. Money: drug companies push the pills to the doctors, the doctors push them on us. This is nothing more than a fancy-titled guy working for a scrip company that has his head on a chopping block if he doesn't figure out how to get figures up. That guy found an untapped market. Plain and simple. The other reason, one which makes even more sense to me, is how easy it to get people to buy into this kind of crap - the doctors, shrinks, medical profession, gov, parents..... we are such a programmed society any more, they could almost sell us our own urine back to us in the form of a pill and we'd buy into it. People are stupid. People are brainwashed. To further this cause and purpose of brainwashing, they have to start with the youngsters - the younger the better. Sick, isn't it?
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We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a civilization, it expects what never was and what never will be.
ORIGINAL: 1eyedfish
Like they have been for yrs , going to dr,s& demanding antibotices for a colds etc...
But ya there are a lot of pill pushers out there that are dr,s too. It is the easy way out & there drug reps are happy & everyones making money( except the patients)
With all the drug pushing going on- there are still needs for some of those drugs, just not to the extenti dont think personaly what there claiming....but you know new markets, drugs, big profets.
You hit that one dead on, 1eye. It's amazing how many people think they need an antibiotic every time they get a sniffle. An antibiotic cannot attack a virus, only a bacteria. What is the flu or a the common cold? A VIRUS. So by taking all these antibiotics, it only accomplishes one thing - futher destroying the body's organs and glands that lead to immune failure or worse. I have a friend that runs to the doc every stinking time he gets a sniffle. This has been going on for years now. Every year, he is sick longer, and to a worse degree than the year before. He was too sick to hunt from the middle of October through the end of December this past year - that's almost the entire season.
And yes, 1eye - BIG profits. Our medical industry/scrip industry is way out of hand.
Me - I don't go to "real" doctors unless I blow a 16d nail from a nail gun through three of my fingers, which usually would constitute immediate medical attention. Otherwise, keep em away from me!
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We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a civilization, it expects what never was and what never will be.
Why are pre-schoolers on them? A couple of reasons - money, power.
Add to that list that parents could care less about their kids these days. If a drug can ceep their spirits up or calm them down when they are too roudy then they are all for it. That's a heck of a lot easier than having to actually deal with the child, punnish the child when needed, teach the child about consequences, teach the child proper manners, so on and so on and to just be a real parent.
Parents today are all too busy to be parents. They would just as well have a couple of zombies walking around the house than to actually be parents.
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"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency........... Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."
Antidepressant use by preschoolers rising
