Increased prescribing of psychotropic medication for children and adolescents during the <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 pandemic: no cause for alarm

Hazell, Philip

doi:10.5694/mja2.51977

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 8 publications

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“…When comparing April 2020 − 2019, antipsychotics had the largest year-over-year percent change (41.9%), followed by antidepressants (37.9%), mood stabilizers (34.4%), and ADHD medications (20.4%); in September 2020, when the number of treated youths was similar to pre-pandemic, the year-over-year percent change in ADHD medication prescription decreased (− 2.8%), while other psychotropic classes increased between 3.1% and 5.0% compared to September 2019 [ 45 , 46 ]. A marked increase in psychotropic medications use in children and adolescents was also observed in Australia [ 47 , 48 ], with a prevalence passing from 33.8 to 60.0 per 1,000 children between 2013 and 2021 [ 49 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on prescription of psychotropic medications in the Italian paediatric population during 2020

Gallinella,

Trotta,

Fortinguerra

2024

Ital J Pediatr

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Background There is a global perception that psychotropic utilization in children and adolescents is increasing, especially with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. Available literature data on paediatric psychotropic medication prescriptions in Italy are limited to one or few regions and not updated. The aim of this study was to provide updated data on psychotropic prescriptions referred to the whole Italian paediatric population, as overall and by subgroups of medications and to evaluate if the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020 had an impact on prescription rates. Methods A descriptive study on psychotropic drug utilization in children and adolescents (< 18 years) resident in all Italian regions during 2020 was performed. Patients registered in the Pharmaceutical Prescriptions database with at least one prescription/dispensing of a psychotropic medication (antipsychotics-N05A), (antidepressants-N06A) and (psychostimulants-N06BA) during the study period were considered. The indicators used were the prescription rate (number of prescriptions per 1000 children) and prevalence of use (proportion of the paediatric population with at least one prescription in the relevant year). Results During the 2020 the prevalence of psychotropic drug use in the paediatric population was 0.3%, increased of 7.8% if compared to 2019. The same trend was observed for the prescription rate, which recorded an average of 28.2 per 1000 children with an increase of 11.6% if compared to previous year, representing the 0.6% of the overall drug use in this age group. The data showed a growing trend prescription by age, reaching the peak in adolescents aged 12–17 years old, with a prescription rate of 65 per 1000 children and a prevalence of 0.71%. Considering the subgroups of psychotropic medications, the highest prevalence of use was found for antipsychotic drugs, received by the 0.19% of the paediatric population during 2020. Conclusions Psychotropic drug utilization in children and adolescents has grown during 2020 in Italy and worldwide, raising alarms from health care clinicians and patient advocates about the increase of burden of mental diseases in paediatric population during the COVID-19 pandemic. A more systematic monitoring of the use of psychotropic medications should be implemented in all countries for collecting relevant information about children and adolescents taking psychotropic drugs, in order to address the present and the future of the mental health of the paediatric population.

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