Pediatric Drug Concerns Prompt New Study
The White House said Monday that the federal government will intensify research on medications used to treat preschoolers for behavioral disorders, responding to growing concerns about the high number of youngsters who take prescription drugs such as Ritalin and Prozac.
The government said it will launch a $5-million research project over five years to study children who take Ritalin to treat attention-deficit disorder; redouble efforts to study labeling and dosage of psychiatric drugs for youngsters; and convene a conference on the issue to be held in the fall.
Monday’s announcement was orchestrated by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is running for the U.S. Senate in New York and who has championed children’s issues during her husband’s presidency.
Some details about the initiative--such as the scope and launch date of the Ritalin studies--remained unavailable Monday. Other parts seemed to repackage policies that are already in place.
But Clinton administration officials insisted that fresh answers are needed on a topic that affects millions of American children and parents. One recent study found that the usage of stimulants or antidepressants among certain groups of children ages 2 to 4 had more than doubled from 1991 to 1995.
“We must unlock the mysteries of children’s mental health--which treatments are the most successful, whether some children are being systematically misdiagnosed,” said Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services.
Despite the potential political overtones, some health care experts said the event served a useful purpose.
“I think it’s significant that they’re calling attention to this problem and saying we really need to figure out what’s going on,” said Dr. Mark Stein, an expert on attention-deficit disorders at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington. “Giving medications to children is a very controversial topic--particularly for very young children. But we really need to go beyond the headlines and try to understand what is happening and why.”
Ritalin, a stimulant known generically as methylphenidate, has been available for decades. It is one of a number of drugs that have been used increasingly in recent years to treat hyperactivity and attention-deficit problems. Its label warns that the drug should only be used by children at least 6 years old. But many children younger than that are given the drug by doctors who prescribe it “off-label,” an entirely legal but sometimes controversial practice.
Federal officials and health experts said that problems surrounding dosage and prescription are complex. They cautioned that some children may not be getting medication who actually need it, while others are getting too much medication.
But experts such as Stein say they are spotting a disturbing trend among their pediatric patients. “More and more younger children are coming in on multiple medications,” he said. “That’s a cause of great concern.”
