Despite publicity about their dangers and overuse, medical doctors have steadily increased their prescriptions of stimulants and antidepressant medications to treat ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and depression in children – some as much as 195%!

The most commonly prescribed psychotropic classes of drugs – central nervous system stimulants (CNSSs) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) –- increased by 26% and 62% respectively. The shocking information is contained in a report based on a study funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) that covered the years 1995 to 1999, published in a recent issue of Ambulatory Pediatrics.

Researchers at the Center for Health Care Policy and Evaluation, UnitedHealth Group, with support from AHRQ's Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics at the University of North Carolina, studied how four therapeutic drug classes used to treat ADHD and depression in youth – CNSSs, SSRIs, tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), and other antidepressants – vary in use over time by age, gender, geographic region, and prescribing physician.

They used pharmacy and enrollment data from six geographically diverse model employer-insured health plans. Researchers examined trends in physician prescribing practices of psychotropics for youth, but did not focus on the appropriateness of prescribing patterns or quality-of-care models.

The study also found:

*** For CNSS patient use, the proportion of Ritalin users decreased, while the proportion of Adderall users increased.

*** Among all children under 20 years, those receiving both CNSSs and SSRIs almost doubled from 1.4 to 2.6 per 1,000 over five years.

*** The use of antidepressants other than SSRIs or TCAs by physicians for their patients increased by 195% overall.

*** A child's first prescription for each CNSS prescribed came from a pediatrician 50% of the time and by a family practitioner 20% of the time. The first prescription for each SSRI prescribed was most likely given by a psychiatrist, although the proportion decreased from 56 to 44% during the study.