A new study reports a decline in the number of preschoolers taking mental health medications despite the growing number of children diagnosed with psychiatric disorders.
Dr. Tanya Froehlich, professor of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, and her colleagues, studied more than 43,000 American kids, with ages two to five years, who were pre-diagnosed to have mental health problems like Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), anxiety and mood disorders. They analyzed the number and frequency of medications they have received between 1994 and 2009.
The researchers discovered that despite the increase in the prevalence of diagnosis of psychiatric disorders in these kids over the study period, medications taken decreased.
In the period 1994 to 1997, 43 percent of the diagnosed kids received medications. It continued its downward trend between 2006 to 2009 as the number of kids taking medications has dropped to 29 percent.
According to the study, one percent of all the kids seen by the doctor in 2006 to 2009 underwent psychiatric medication; lower than the 1.45 percent during the peak period of 2002 to 2005.
Froehlich told LiveScience, "It's heartening to realize that we are not just going up with medication use every year."
Medications used in treating psychiatric disorders, such as antidepressants, anti-anxiety and ADHD drugs and mood stabilizers are also considered in the study.
It is most likely that the trend partly steadied because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started to put black box warnings on psychotropic medications in the mid- to late-2000s, stressing their imposed health risks to kids. Antidepressant increases the risk of suicide while ADHD drugs have been associated with heart problems.
Froehlich added, "I think those warnings gave doctors pause. It seems like from mid- to late-2000s, we started exercising more caution."
The researchers also discovered that boys, white kids and kids from families of lower household income were more at risk of developing mental health problems.
This study was published in the Sept. 30 issue of the journal Pediatrics.
