Drop in antidepressant use by kids is good news

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Tue, 28 Feb 2006 00:41:28 -0000

[sSRI-Research] Drop in antidepressant use by kids is good news

Kingsport Times-News, Sun, 26 Feb 2006 10:49 PM PST

 

 

 

http://timesnews.net/article.dna?_StoryID=3605481

 

 

Kingsport Times-News

 

Drop in antidepressant use by kids is good news

Monday, February 27, 2006

 

 

Especially given Americans' propensity to pop a pill for every ill,

real or imagined, word that the use of antidepressants by children has

sharply declined is good news indeed.

 

Apparently, the big drop in antidepressant drug use among the young is

the direct result of the new black box warnings mandated by the Food

and Drug Administration in the spring of 2004.

 

That labeling alert had previously been reserved for only the

deadliest of drugs. But given the mounting evidence of the damage

these drugs have done to young people, the recommendation was a wholly

appropriate one.

 

Earlier that same year, experts told the FDA what many parents had

already learned from bitter, personal experience. When it comes to

children, antidepressants can actually trigger the suicidal impulses

their use is designed to prevent.

 

Indeed, it was an apparent pattern of suicidal behavior in pediatric

studies of Paxil, a popular antidepressant, that prompted the FDA to

order an analysis of a whole array of antidepressant medications. The

preliminary results of that study confirmed the rise in suicidal

behaviors.

 

In a recent report, the FDA notes that, at its peak in 2002, nearly 11

million antidepressant prescriptions were written for American children.

 

Since the agency began issuing advisories about the possible adverse

effects of such drugs, culminating in the black box warnings,

pediatric prescriptions for antidepressants have plummeted 25 percent.

An overall decline of 20 percent has been seen since March 2004.

 

In Tennessee, where residents' drug use is a shocking 58 percent above

average - the highest drug use in the nation - that national decline

in antidepressant prescriptions at least invites the hope that a

similar drop will occur here as well. That's because, in addition to

drug use, Tennessee also has a higher than average rate of suicide.

 

According to a report from the Tennessee Commission on Children and

Youth, the east south central states - Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama

and Mississippi - have the third highest suicide rate among the nine

regions in the United States, and Tennessee leads the region. Among

young adults 15 to 24, suicide is the third leading cause of death

behind only accidents and homicides. The deadly mix of a

medication-prone state with an already high suicide rate is, of

course, glaringly obvious.

 

Two years ago, some in the mental health community expressed concern

that black box warnings would have the unintended consequence of

keeping antidepressants from being prescribed where they are most

needed. While this concern continues to have merit, it needs to be

weighed against statistical models which have shown as many as three

children out of every 100 will actually become suicidal as the result

of such a prescription.

 

Only a physician, in consultation with the parents of a young child,

can determine whether antidepressant medication will do more harm than

good. Recognizing the potential dangers of these drugs by including

black box warnings has given doctors and the general public an

opportunity for a fuller discussion of their benefits and side effects.

 

The marked decline in antidepressant prescriptions demonstrates the

positive value of that decision.

 

In a year when the Food and Drug Administration has frequently been

taken to task for its lack of aggressiveness in protecting the public,

this is both a notable and welcome exception (They were forced to do

it by wide spread public knowledge).