Trends in antipsychotic prescribing in children and adolescents: more is not necessarily better

Abstract

Monitoring trends in prescriptions remains a vital tool in improving rational and safe use of medications in the community. In The Lancet Psychiatry, Maja R Radojčić and colleagues1 examined such trends for antipsychotics, in a large general practitioner (GP) database in England, and identified a doubling in the prevalence of antipsychotic prescriptions for children and adolescents aged 3–18 years (3 480 730 [48·2%] girls and 3 736 061 [51·8%] boys; mean age at the start of follow-up 7·3 years [SD 4·9]), from 0·057% (95% CI 0·052–0·063%) in 2000 to 0·105% (0·100–0·111%) in 2019.