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Subscribe To Our Syndicated NewsKids Commonly Prescribed Potentially Dangerous Drug Cocktails
-November 27, 2006
An alarming number of young children and teenagers across the United States are taking powerful combinations of psychiatric drugs, despite a lack of evidence supporting that such combinations are safe and effective.
Last year, approximately 1.5 million children received a combination of at least two psychiatric medications. Of those, 500,000 received at least three, more than 160,000 were prescribed at least four, and 280,000 were under the age of 10.
Zero Evidence
Psychiatrists have long prescribe multiple drugs (known as drug cocktails) to adults. However, many are now doing the same for younger populations, where the safety and efficacy of drug cocktails has not been proven.
Several studies have shown that a combination of two psychiatric drugs can help some adult patients. Similar evidence for the pediatric population is scarce. And when it comes to combinations of three or more, the evidence is zero.
The data is zip, said Dr. Steven E. Hyman, former director of the National Institute of Health and current provost of Harvard University.
What Kids Are Taking
Stimulants for the treatment of attention deficit disorder represent the most commonly prescribed psychiatric drug in children. Still, psychiatrists often pair these drugs with antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and/or antipsychotics.
Some of these psychiatric drugs cause serious side effects and their use has not been extensively studied in the pediatric population.
There are not any good scientific data to support the widespread use of these medicines in children, particularly in young children where the scientific data are even more scarce, said Dr. Thomas R. Insel of the National Institute of Heath.
Compound Risks
Antidepressants are now required to carry a label warning of the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in children. Likewise, anticonvulsant drugs carry heightened warnings about the risk of pancreas and liver damage, and in some cases, fatal skin rashes. And among the risks associated with antipsychotics are rapid weight gain, diabetes, and permanent tics.
According to medical experts, these risks compound when the drugs are combined.
No one has been able to show that the benefits of these combinations outweigh the risks in children, said Dr. Daniel J. Safer, associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University.
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