http://goo.gl/GRiw8h
Dr. Mark Olfson, of Columbia University, New York, and coauthors say:
"Age and sex antipsychotic use patterns suggest that much of the antipsychotic treatment of children and younger adolescents targets age-limited behavioral problems."
Youth are more susceptible than adults to the adverse effects of antipsychotics and the increasing off-label prescribing is "worrisome," says an editorial article accompanying the article in the same issue of the journal.
Acute and long-term side effects include weight gain and lipid and glucose abnormalities, say Dr. Christoph Correll of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY, and Joseph Blader, PhD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. They conclude:
"As a field we must accurately identify youth for whom antipsychotic treatment is truly necessary by first exhausting lower-risk interventions for youth without psychosis.
Finally, when required, antipsychotic therapy should be as brief as possible and closely monitored."
The authors of the study conclude:
"In older teenagers and young adults, a developmental period of high risk for the onset of psychotic disorders, antipsychotic use increased between 2006 and 2010.