Child SSRI use down!

[scotty]

http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArti...toryID=7501284

U.S. Youth Antidepressant Use Drops in 2004 - Report
Tue Feb 1, 2005 12:11 PM ET


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Antidepressant use among children declined 10 percent in
2004, after U.S. regulators warned the drugs may be linked with increased
suicide risk, pharmacy benefits firm Medco Health Solutions said on Tuesday.
Use of drugs including Eli Lilly and Co.'s Prozac and GlaxoSmithKline Plc's
Paxil fell 16 percent in the final quarter of the year, a time when use of
the medications typically peaks, according to Medco.

The drop began when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October 2003
cited reports of suicidal attempts among kids on certain anti-depressants.

A year later, after intense public debate and high-profile government
meetings, regulators ordered makers of all the drugs to slap tough warnings
in bold letters -- so-called black box warnings -- on the drugs as a
precaution.

Medco acts as a middleman between health plans and employers trying to curb
prescription drug costs, and pharmaceutical companies. It processes
prescriptions for 60 million people in the United States.

The overall 10 percent drop last year contrasts to a 9 percent rise in 2003,
which reversed several years of upward use of the drugs in children.

After the FDA's initial decision on the new warnings, Medco did a big public
campaign to patients, doctors and pharmacists.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

[scotty]

Another one!

Kids' antidepressant use declines
By Marilyn Elias, USA TODAY
Massive publicity about antidepressants causing suicidal behavior in children is prompting more parents and doctors to hesitate longer or "just say no" to giving kids the pills, suggest new prescription records and interviews with doctors.
In the last three months of 2004, the rate of patients under 18 who got antidepressant prescriptions dropped 16% compared with the same time period in 2003, according to pharmacy benefit managers Medco Health Solutions. There was a 19% drop in the third quarter of 2004 compared with the same time frame in 2003.

In October, the Food and Drug Administration ordered "black box" labels, the most severe warning, on all antidepressants. The labels aren't expected to start appearing until this month, but their impact is already evident. (Related story: Teen uses Zoloft defense in murder case)

When pediatricians or primary doctors refer kids to a child psychiatrist, fewer parents agree to go, says Ujwala Dixit, a child psychiatrist in Media, Penn. And fewer parents are willing to have their kids take the drugs when they're recommended, she says.

Even before the black boxes, many pediatricians felt unqualified to diagnose or care for kids with serious mental disorders, surveys suggested. "The black box just adds to their feelings of vulnerability and uneasiness," says University of Oklahoma behavioral pediatrician Mark Wolraich.

But getting appointments with pediatric psychiatrists can be tough, even if parents are willing to go, because many states have fewer than five child psychiatrists for every 100,000 children.

Programs are growing to bring pediatricians "up to speed" on childhood depression. Tennessee and Minnesota are among leaders in such programs. Massachusetts offers primary doctors state-funded free consultations with psychiatric experts on children.

National guidelines for treating depressed kids ages 10 to 18 in primary-care practices will be finished by May and published in professional journals, says Columbia University child psychiatrist Peter Jensen, the project director. Guidelines to help parents get needed help for kids with depression also will be available, he says.

Studies reviewed by FDA scientists show about 2 out of 100 kids become more suicidal because of the medicines. That has encouraged caution. "I've become more vigilant and guarded in prescribing the drugs," Dixit says.

In another sign of caution, more doctors are giving depressed kids only Prozac because it's the only drug approved for childhood depression, says San Diego child psychiatrist Gabrielle Shapiro, who reviews prescriptions for managed care companies. Several other antidepressants have been widely and legally prescribed for kids because they've been approved for adults.

Managed-care companies also are requiring more paperwork to document that a child needs antidepressants, she adds.

Some worry that all these "speed bumps" might end in more childhood suicides. "For children who really need treatment, a 'wait and see' approach could be dangerous," Dixit says.

But other mental health experts think prescribing antidepressants for kids, which had skyrocketed to nearly 11 million prescriptions written in 2002, needed to come down.

Pills were given to too many kids whose unhappiness stemmed from their environment, not mental illness, says Wellesley, Mass., psychiatrist Bruce Black.

Some have constantly fighting parents or parents who expect too much from them academically. They may be withdrawn because they're smoking a lot of pot. They may be in schools that are ill-suited to their learning styles, Black says.

Many could benefit from family therapy or "real world" changes. "Kids are unhappy for a lot of reasons, and antidepressants often aren't the solution," he says.

[rdjanis]

Yes!

[elisa]

Great!!!!

Let the trend continue.

[rdjanis]

Laurie you must feel so good inside knowing you were one of the people who started this process of awareness!

[scotty]

This IS a good day!!!