The aim of this study was to examine clinical outcomes, psychiatric comorbidity and neuropsychological characteristics in Turkish adolescents with an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis in childhood. A total of 45 children with ADHD diagnosis and 28 children with a psychiatric diagnosis other than ADHD in a 1-year cohort of 7-10-year-olds were reevaluated 6 years later using Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children Present and Lifetime version and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised and Stroop Test TBAG version. This study shows that the clinical outcomes and the comorbidity patterns for ADHD from childhood to adolescence in Turkey are similar to reported rates in the Western countries. In the ADHD group, 75.6 % still has impairing ADHD symptoms and 46.6 % has comorbid psychiatric disorders. The main difference is anxiety disorders being the most common comorbid disorders (37.8 %) in Turkish ADHD youth. These findings stress the high comorbidity associated with ADHD and support the importance of assessment and treatment for ADHD and comorbidities during adolescence.
Aims
Polypharmacy and drug‐drug interactions (DDIs) are important problems that necessitate more attention in paediatric inpatients. This study aimed to determine and evaluate DDIs in paediatric inpatients using psychotropic drugs.
Methods
It was conducted as a retrospective cross‐sectional study. Inpatients consulted by child and adolescent psychiatrists (CAPs) and had at least one psychotropic drug‐using between January 2016 and September 2017 were retrospectively included. To determine the clinical significance of DDIs by Micromedex® and DDI Predictor online databases. DDIs between psychotropic and other drugs, the type, severity, and duration of potential DDIs were evaluated.
Results
During the study period, 564 patients’ records were reviewed and 200 patients were considered eligible and included in the study. The median (min‐max) age was 13.70 (1.5‐17.83) years. The mean (SD) number of psychotropics used during hospitalisation was 1.29 (0.55) and the total number of drugs was 7.39 (4.45). A total of 336 potential DDIs were detected (2.19 DDIs/patient) in all patients. The most common potential outcome of psychotropic DDIs was drug‐induced QTc prolongation (67.56%). While 92.85% of the potential DDIs were “contraindicated” or “major,” only 18.46% had a “good” or “excellent” strength of evidence. The risk of psychotropic polypharmacy (OR:0.73, 95% CI 0.59‐0.92; p:0.006) and DDIs (OR:0.69, 95% CI 0.35‐0.76; p:0.033) was significantly higher in patients without primary psychiatric disorders. When the total number of drugs and the total number of potential DDIs were compared amongst all inpatient units, significant differences were found between paediatric hematology‐general paediatrics (mean difference: 2.002; P < .001) and paediatric hematology‐paediatric ICU (mean difference: 1.650; P = .012), respectively.
Conclusion
Psychotropic drug‐related DDI is a major problem in the paediatric population and the clinical significance of the potential DDIs’ risk should be determined in patient‐centred care and managed by the multidisciplinary team.
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