Psychotropic medication patterns among youth in foster care.
| Autor: | Zito JM; Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. jzito@rx.umaryland.edu, Safer DJ, Sai D, Gardner JF, Thomas D, Coombes P, Dubowski M, Mendez-Lewis M |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Zdroj: | Pediatrics [Pediatrics] 2008 Jan; Vol. 121 (1), pp. e157-63. |
| DOI: | 10.1542/peds.2007-0212 |
| Abstrakt: | Context: Studies have revealed that youth in foster care covered by Medicaid insurance receive psychotropic medication at a rate > 3 times that of Medicaid-insured youth who qualify by low family income. Systematic data on patterns of medication treatment, particularly concomitant drugs, for youth in foster care are limited. Objective: The purpose of this work was to describe and quantify patterns of psychotropic monotherapy and concomitant therapy prescribed to a randomly selected, 1-month sample of youth in foster care who had been receiving psychotropic medication. METHODS. Medicaid data were accessed for a July 2004 random sample of 472 medicated youth in foster care aged 0 through 19 years from a southwestern US state. Psychotropic medication treatment data were identified by concomitant pattern, frequency, medication class, subclass, and drug entity and were analyzed in relation to age group; gender; race or ethnicity; International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, psychiatric diagnosis; and physician specialty. Results: Of the foster children who had been dispensed psychotropic medication, 41.3% received > or = 3 different classes of these drugs during July 2004, and 15.9% received > or = 4 different classes. The most frequently used medications were antidepressants (56.8%), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder drugs (55.9%), and antipsychotic agents (53.2%). The use of specific psychotropic medication classes varied little by diagnostic grouping. Psychiatrists prescribed 93% of the psychotropic medication dispensed to youth in foster care. The use of > or = 2 drugs within the same psychotropic medication class was noted in 22.2% of those who were given prescribed drugs concomitantly. Conclusions: Concomitant psychotropic medication treatment is frequent for youth in foster care and lacks substantive evidence as to its effectiveness and safety. |
| Databáze: | MEDLINE |
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