NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The prescription of antipsychotic medications for children and adolescents in the US increased nearly 6-fold between 1993 and 2002, according to survey results.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved only three antipsychotic drugs – haloperidol, thioridazine hydrochloride and pimozide — for use in patients younger than 18 years, but most of the prescriptions written were for newer medications.

“What was most striking is that nearly one in five — 18 percent — of visits to psychiatrists by young people resulted in their being prescribed an antipsychotic medication,” lead investigator Dr. Mark Olfson told Reuters Health.

Interest in this issue followed “earlier studies that reported significant increases in the use of antipsychotics by young people within the Medicaid population,” the researcher added. “We wanted to find out if this was a general trend that more broadly affects the mental health care of youths in the US.”
news.yahoo.com

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