The use of psychotropic prescription medications to treat mental health disorders in very young children is stabilizing, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics.
Psychotropic medications that are commonly prescribed to treat ADHD, mood disorders and other mental health problems include both typical and atypical antipsychotics, antidepressants, antianxiety agents, stimulants and mood stabilizers.
Few of these medications have been approved for use at preschool age by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
However, the researchers from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center say previous studies have shown that psychotropic prescriptions increased two to threefold for preschool children between 1991 and 2001.
For their study, the researchers reviewed two national surveys of children aged between 2 and 5-years-old to determine the use of psychotropic prescription medications in these age groups between 1994 and 2009.
The surveys collected information on 43,000 young patients who visited office-based physician practices and hospital-based outpatient clinics throughout the US.
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