Psychotropic Drug Use with European American and American Indian Children in Foster Care

Abstract

This study examines the use of psychotropic drugs with 473 European American and American Indian children in foster care. Prescription data for seven categories of psychotropic drugs were obtained from Medical Assistance records for the year 2000. European American and American Indian children constituted 60% and 33% of the sample, respectively. Forty-three percent of the children received psychotropic medication. Usage among males was higher than females (45% vs. 35%). For children under the age of 8 usage ranged from 2% to 30%; more than 50% of the older children were medicated. Most frequently used drugs were antidepressants and stimulants. Proportionately more European American children received drugs than American Indian children (48% vs. 34%), but usage of different categories of psychotropic across racial groups was similar. The authors discuss tentative hypotheses for differences between the present and previous studies as well as for the disproportionate use of psychotropic drugs across racial groups.

Use of Psychotropic Medications Among Youth in Treatment Foster Care

“…Using guidelines reported in previous studies of medication use in children and adults (e.g., Essock, et al, 2009; Fontanella, et al, 2009; Ferguson, Glesener, & Raschick, 2006), psychotropic medications were coded into five possible categories: (1) antidepressants; (2) Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)/stimulants; (3) antipsychotics; (4) non-antipsychotic mood stabilizers/antimanic agents; and (5) anxiolytics (antianxiety medication). (Appendix I in Essock et al, 2009 provides a list of most medications and classifications for further reference.)…”

Psychotropic Medication Patterns Among Youth in Foster Care

“…However, the psychotropic medication prevalence from 3 county Medicaid foster care studies ranged from 30% to 43%. 4,5,15 The prevalence from state Medicaid foster care findings ranged from 25.8% in year 2000 in a mid-Atlantic state 6 to 34.7% in year 2005 among 0-to 17-year-olds 1 and 37.9% in the annual data (0 -19 years; from September 2003 to August 2004) used to select a 1-month random sample of Ͻ20-year-olds for the present study. Compared with nonfoster care Medicaid enrollees, psychotropic drug treatment in the foster care population now equals or exceeds that of eligible youth in the SSI group 16 and is 3.5-to fourfold more prevalent than in Medicaid-insured youth eligible by low family income.…”

Rates of Psychotropic Medication Use over Time among Youth in Child Welfare/Child Protective Services

“…Many of these variables have previously been linked to medication use, specifically older age (Zima et al 1999b;dosReis et al 2005;Raghavan et al 2005;Ferguson et al 2006), male gender (dosReis et al 2005Raghavan et al 2005;Ferguson et al 2006), Caucasian race=ethnicity (Zima et al 1999b;McMillen et al 2004;Raghavan et al 2005;Ferguson et al 2006), a history of physical abuse (Raghavan et al 2005), public insurance (Raghavan et al 2005), foster care placement (dosReis et al 2005), and placement in group homes (Zima et al 1999b;Breland-Noble et al 2004). African-American and Latino ethnicities, as well as history of neglect, have been associated with decreased medication use in previous analyses of the NSCAW data examining use at wave 2 (Raghavan et al 2005).…”

“…The few regional studies available show rates of medication use ranging from 13% to 37%, (Zima et al 1999a;Zima et al 1999b;Breland-Noble et al 2004;McMillen et al 2004;Raghavan et al 2005;Ferguson et al 2006;Zito et al 2008) compared with approximately 4% in youths in the general population (Olfson et al 2002). One national study, using data from NSCAW, estimated that approximately 14% of youths were using psychotropic medications approximately 12 months following investigation.…”