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Use of antipsychotics by child and adolescent psychiatrists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Karmen Slaveska*
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, South Block, E Floor, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH
Chris Hollis
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, South Block, E Floor, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH
David Bramble
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, South Block, E Floor, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH
*
Correspondence
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Abstract

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Aims and methods

A postal questionnaire of Trent Region's consultant child and adolescent psychiatrists was used to investigate the two-year period prevalence rates of antipsychotic medication prescription, and the ICD–10 psychiatric disorders it was used to treat.

Results

The response rate was good (92.3%) and 78% of respondents had prescribed antipsychotic medication for a range of conditions over the period, albeit very infrequently. Antipsychotics were used for a range of psychotic and non-psychotic disorders. The older antipsychotic agents (thioridazine, chlorpromazine and haloperidol) comprised the bulk of prescriptions. Newer, atypical, antipsychotics were prescribed only four times over the period and no patients in residential in-patient units received this form of treatment.

Clinical implications

These results highlight a pressing need to address antipsychotic prescribing in children and adolescents and, especially, the role of new antipsychotic drugs.

Type
Original Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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