Psychotropic drug prescriptions for teens surge 250 percent over seven years

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Fri, 13 Jan 2006 19:28:30 -0500

[sSRI-Research] Psychotropic drug prescriptions for teens

surge 250 percent over seven years_Brandeis University

 

 

 

 

Psychotropic drug prescriptions for teens surge 250 percent over seven

years_Brandeis UniversityA

 

LLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)

Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability

www.ahrp.org

 

FYI

 

A Brandeis University study reviewed clinical practice (doctor office

visits) and found that drug prescriptions for the treatment of

depression, anxiety and mood or attention disorders in teenagers (14

to 18) increased by 250% between 1994-2001: the rates of doctor visits

that resulted in a psychotropic drug prescrtion increased from 3.4% in

1994-1995 to 8.3% in 2000-2001.The authors note that the greatest leap

in psychotropic drug prescriptions occurred in 1999--when direct to

consumer drug advertising really took off.

 

" we believe that direct-to-consumer advertising and other marketing

strategies are key in encouraging greater use of psychotropics,

particularly for the increased use found after 1999. Advertisements

for medications for ADHD, social phobia, and depression are now common

in various public media. Overall spending by the pharmaceutical

industry on television advertising increased sixfold to $1.5 billion

dollars between 1996 and 2000, with the trend accelerating after 1997

(31). Such drug industry promotion combined with the practice of

detailing to physicians may affect both the public and physicians.

 

Increasing numbers of patients come to physicians asking for

particular medications (31), and drug industry detailing can promote

off-label uses more aggressively. Surveys have suggested an increasing

pressure on physicians to prescribe drugs that they may or may not

feel are medically warranted (32), and the most common reason reported

by physicians for inappropriate prescribing is patient demand (33).

 

One important factor facilitating increased marketing and awareness of

psychotropics is various government policies enacted in the late

1990s. The Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act-which was

passed in late 1997 but was not fully implemented until 1999-loosened

restrictions on the promotion to physicians of the off-label use of

medications (34). Additional FDA directives were issued in 1997 and

1998, which enabled the pharmaceutical industry to target consumers

directly with their prescription medications (31,35-37) "

 

The study, Trends in the Use of Psychotropic Medications Among

Adolescents, 1994 to 2001, by Cindy Parks Thomas, Ph.D.Peter Conrad,

Ph.D. Rosemary Casler, M.A.

 

Elizabeth Goodman, M.D. was just published in Psychiatric Services,

Jan. 2006 pp. 63-69

 

Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav

212-595-8974

veracare

 

brandeis.edu/news/item?news_item_id=104310 & show_release_date=1

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060104-122700-9017r.htm

 

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

 

PRESCRIPTIONS OF MIND-ALTERING DRUGS FOR TEENS RISE

By Jennifer Harper

Published January 4, 2006

 

Teenagers are taking more mind-altering drugs -- but under doctor's

orders.

 

Drug prescriptions meant to counter depression, anxiety and mood

or attention disorders in teens increased by 250 percent between 1994

and 2001, according to a Brandeis University study released yesterday.

 

" There is an alarming increase in prescribing these drugs to

teens, " said lead author Cindy Parks Thomas, who tracks prescription

drug trends for the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at

the university.

 

Teenage boys are particularly targeted: one out of every 10 who

visits the doctor leaves with a prescription to treat a mental

condition. The study also found that overall, up to a quarter of the

office visits which yielded a prescription " did not have an associated

mental health diagnosis, " according to Ms. Thomas.

 

Ready prescriptions are on the rise " despite the fact that few

psychotropic drugs, typically prescribed for attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression and other mood disorders,

are approved for use in children under 18, " the study stated.

 

" The dramatic increase in prescribing of psychotropic medications

is of considerable concern ... because these medications are not

without risks, " Ms. Thomas observed.

 

The research was based on data from the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention's National Center of Health Statistics, which

analyzed the scope of physician office visits nationwide. The study

was published in Psychiatric Services, a medical journal.

 

The CDC released similar findings in 2004. The number of children

younger than 18 taking three or more prescription drugs increased by

more than 50 percent between 1994 and 2000 -- to almost 4 percent of

the age group.

 

Specifically, use of antidepressant drugs among children between

ages 5 and 17 increased from just over 2 percent in 1994 to almost six

percent by 2002. Use of stimulants also rose, from about 5 percent a

decade ago to almost 10 percent by 2002.

 

In addition, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported last

year that while teen use of cigarettes and illicit drugs are down, the

abuse of prescription sedatives or painkillers is up significantly.

 

The prevalence of prescription drugs among the young is troubling

a cross section of parents, legislators and pundits, including Thomas

Sowell, who noted in one editorial, " The motto used to be: 'Boys will

be boys.' Today, the motto seems to be: 'Boys will be medicated,' "

later adding that the old " three R's " have been redefined as

" repression, re-education and Ritalin. "

 

Meanwhile, the new Brandeis research specifically cited the impact

of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration 1997 decision to relax limits

on consumer advertising of prescription drugs. The study found that

pharmaceutical companies increased spending on TV advertising alone by

sixfold between 1996 and 2000, to a total of $1.5 billion.

 

The study also found a " greater acceptance among physicians and

the public of psychotropic drugs. " Other factors to account for

greater use of the drugs included new medications with fewer side

effects and more mental health screening, Ms. Thomas noted.

 

How troubled are American teens?

 

According to Dec. 29 figures from the Substance Abuse and Mental

Health Services Administration, 2.2 million adolescents -- or 9

percent of youth ages 12 to 17 -- reported they had at least one

" major depressive episode " in the last year.

 

Teenagers say their parents' lack of attention to " significant

transition periods " drives them to drug abuse, according to

Boston-based Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and the

Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, which surveyed 1,968 teens in

mid-December. Almost half said their parents overlooked key birthdays,

puberty and other adolescent mileposts.

 

" In a culture largely devoid of formal rites of passage and too

often unobservant of the few that exist, young people may make up

their own, " said SADD chairman Stephen Wallace. " Far too often they

include drinking, drugging and other potentially destructive behaviors. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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