Psychotropic drug use among 0–17 year olds during 2004–2014: a nationwide prescription database study

Abstract

BackgroundTime-trend studies on psychotropic drugs among children and adolescents are scarce, and most of them are outdated. The purpose of this study was to study prevalences of psychotropic drug use during 2004–2014 among Norwegians aged <18 years, overall and in psychotropic sub-groups.MethodsData were obtained from the Norwegian Prescription Database, which covers all dispensed prescription drugs in Norway from 2004 and onwards. Psychotropic drugs included: antipsychotics (ATC-group N05A), anxiolytics (N05B), hypnotic/sedatives (N05C), antidepressants (N06A), stimulants (N06BA), and alimemazine (R06AD01). Period (1-year) prevalence of use, overall and in subgroups of psychotropic drugs, was estimated by identifying individuals <18 years who had at least one psychotropic drug dispensed during each year.ResultsPsychotropic drug use increased in 0–17 year olds over an 11-year period, in which the main contributing drugs were stimulants (boys overall; 15.0 to 20.8/1000, girls overall; 3.8 to 8.5/1000), hypnotic/sedative drugs in adolescents (boys overall; 4.2 to 10.8/1000, girls overall; 2.6 to 8.8/1000) and to some extent antidepressants among adolescent girls (girls overall from 3.1 to 4.0/1000). Psychotropic drug use was, however, reduced by half in the youngest children, attributed to reduction of alimemazine only (1-year olds: boys; from 36.6 to 10.2/1000, girls; 26.9 to 7.2/1000). A higher level of psychotropic drug use was observed among younger boys, but there is a shift towards girls using more psychotropic drugs than boys during adolescence for all psychotropic drugs except for stimulants.ConclusionDifferent trends in psychotropic drug use exist in age and gender subgroups. Psychotropic drug use has decreased among the youngest children, attributed to alimemazine, and increased in older children and adolescents, attributed mainly to stimulants and hypnotics/sedatives.

Patterns and profiles of methylphenidate use both in children and adults

“…Since 2000, the dispensing of methylphenidate (MPH), a prescription stimulant medication commonly used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has significantly increased worldwide in children and adults [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], the concern actually are for efficacy and safety of the long term use for all the users (principally for young people where MPH is authorized in ADHD; and the use for young children (<6 years) and adults for whom MPH isn't authorized (only for narcolepsy in adults). To established and assess the patterns of this increase, numerous studies have been performed across a wide range of countries, with the aim of estimating the prevalence of MPH use and associated factors (European countries [2,5,6,8,[10][11][12][15][16][17][18], United States [3,13,14], and Australia [14]).…”

“…Improved diagnosis of ADHD among children may explain this huge increase throughout the world. Studies in children have focused on establishing the increase in psychotropic drug use over time, and characterizing its patterns of use (regular, occasional or short-term) [14,[18][19][20]. Other studies have focused on patients with ADHD, irrespective of their age (adults and/or children) [3,[20][21][22][23][24][25], with the aim of characterizing treatment initiation and persistence.…”

Bruk av antidepressiver hos unge gir økt diabetesrisiko

“…Rundt én av 20 norske barn og unge er plaget med depresjon, og bruken av antidepressiver er stigende (1). Flere studier har vist økt risiko for type 2-diabetes hos voksne som bruker antidepressiver.…”

Clinical use of second-generation antipsychotics in children

“…At the same time, the duration of SGA use in children has lengthened, indications have broadened, and offlabel use has increased (3,9,10). The use of SGAs in children and adolescents seems to be increasing from the age of 7 to 8 years onwards, predominantly in male patients (2)(3)(4)(5).…”

“…The use of second-generation antipsychotic (SGA) medication among child and adolescent psychiatric patients has increased worldwide in recent years (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). The increase appears to have been more extensive in the USA than in European countries, but the tendency is the same (3,6).…”