Experts Concerned By Increased Use of Prescription Medications Used to Modify Children's Behavior
GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: Many experts have been concerned by the increased use of prescription medications to modify behavior in children. But as our medical correspondent Steve Salvatore reports, there is a new trend which may be even more alarming.</s>STEVE SALVATORE, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ritalin and other stimulants are other often used to treat children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Antidepressants called Selective Sarontonin (ph) Reuptake Inhibitors, or SSRIs, are also used for behavior modification. In the nine-year University of Michigan study, the number of stimulant prescriptions increased four fold, from 2.7 percent to 10.7 percent among 6 to 14-year-old. And the number of SSRI prescription also increased, from 0.1 percent to 1.7 percent. And both the dose and duration of treatment of the two therapies also increased. But most alarming to the researchers was the number of children on both of the drugs at the same time.</s>DR. JERRY RUSHTON, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Combined use was something that really was a new phenomena in 1990, because these drugs were just coming on to the market, just starting to be used for children and adolescents. In 1998, 30 percent of the children who are on SSRIs were also on a stimulant.</s>SALVATORE: Raising concern about safety.</s>DR. HAROLD KOPLEWICZ, NYU CHILD STUDY CENTER: Clearly, further research is needed on how effective this is, and also, what the combination will do as far as side affects.</s>SALVATORE: There are some limitations to the study. Because the researchers only counted the number of prescription written, without knowing the diagnosis of each patient, they could not provide an explanation for the trend.</s>RUSHTON: It may be that children were under-recognized, underdiagnosed and missed in the past, and now they are receiving a diagnosis and treatment subsequently. The other main hypothesis or concern is that this represents overprescription or inappropriate prescription. (on camera): Although the study population was large, involving more than 27,000 patients, it was limited to North Carolina Medicaid recipients only. Experts say more research is needed determine if this study represents a national trends. Dr. Steve Salvatore, CNN, New York.