Antidepressant Drug Use Jumps 62% Among Youths, Study Finds

WASHINGTON —  The use of blockbuster antidepressant drugs such as Prozac and Zoloft soared in the late 1990s among young people, the first government study of its type found.

Prescription drug use among people 20 years old and younger jumped 62% from 1995 to 1999, according to research by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the government body that tracks health treatments.

The increase raises questions about the definition of “problem behavior” among children and teens, the authors said.

“Given the potential emotional and developmental impact of psychotropic medication for the vulnerable populations of children and adolescents,” society should examine how it treats delinquency, the authors wrote in this week’s issue of Ambulatory Pediatrics.

Teens aged 15 to 19 are most likely to be given these antidepressants, followed by children aged 10 to 14, according to the data. Girls are prescribed the drugs slightly more often than boys.

Fewer psychologists and more family doctors are prescribing the drugs, the study found. Those doctors may be unfamiliar with symptoms of depression and may be over-prescribing the drugs, said Deborah Shatin, the primary author of the study.