Toddlers Prescribed Drugs For Behavior
By Kathryn Shine
Originally published in The Age, February 18, 2001
Doctors are prescribing stimulants and antidepressants to children as young as three, a survey has confirmed.
The survey of Australian paediatricians and child psychiatrists found almost half the respondents prescribed stimulant drugs to children aged under five.
About one-third said they prescribed drugs that had not been properly tested on children under 12.
The survey, funded by the Murdoch Children's Research Centre in Melbourne, presents the most comprehensive picture to date of children's use of behavior-altering drugs, known as psychotropics.
Researchers, who compiled the results last week, presented their preliminary findings at a conference in Sydney on Friday.
The survey found that:
Stimulants such as Ritalin were the most common psychotropic drugs prescribed to children.
More than half of the doctors surveyed prescribed combined medication.
About two-thirds of respondents prescribed so-called "new antidepressants", such as Prozac, and the same number prescribed the mood stabiliser clonidine to children.
About 35 per cent directed patients to use the drugs in a way contrary to the directions on the label. The most common drug used this way was risperidone, which was developed to treat schizophrenia but was being used to counter aggression in children.
The head of the research team, Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital paediatrician Daryl Efron, said the survey confirmed anecdotal evidence that more psychotropic medications were being prescribed to very young children.
Dr. Efron said the increasing use of new antidepressants and anti-psychotics drugs was a concern. "There is no firm evidence to prove these drugs work in small children," he said.
Most psychiatrists and paediatricians surveyed reported recommending other treatment options such as therapy, but in many cases they were expected to provide medication, he said.
"There is enormous pressure, increasing pressure, to prescribe, mainly from parents," Dr. Efron said.
