The prevalence of polypharmacy — or overlapping prescriptions of psychiatric drugs — is growing among children and adolescents, new findings from a Maryland study suggest.
Researchers published findings from a study based on data from nearly 127,000 Medicaid enrollees aged 17 and younger Feb. 16 in JAMA Network Open. They found that, from 2015 to 2020, there was a nearly 10% rise in the proportion of youth taking three or more different types of psychiatric medications, such as antidepressants, antipsychotics and those used for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Polypharmacy was "significantly more likely" among those in foster care, the researchers said. Among this group, the practice grew from 10.8% of youths enrolled in Medicaid in 2015 to 11.3% in 2020.
While the study was focused on data from Maryland, there has been research based on nationally weighted samples that has also pointed to the growing prevalence of polypharmacy among children and adolescents, according to a report from The New York Times.
Amid the growing trend, experts have underscored that psychiatric drug combinations haven't been tested for safety in younger populations, and that it's not yet clear how the simultaneous use of multiple psychiatric drugs may affect brain development in the long run.