The Education Blog

The number of school children who use anti-psychotic drugs in UK and US schools has increased over the years. However, according to a new comparison based on a UK study, American children take anti-psychotic medicines at about six times the rate of children in the United Kingdom.

Experts in the field claim that among the anti-psychotic drugs are especially those used to treat autism and hyperactivity and that they are over prescribed on both sides of the Atlantic. The new UK study is being released in the May edition of the journal, Pediatrics.

Yahoo! News reports that in the UK study there were 595 anti-psychotic prescriptions for children in 1992, or a rate of fewer than four children per 10,000 using the drugs, while by 2005, 2,917 prescriptions were written, or a rate of seven children per 10,000 euro a near-doubling.

The new U.K. study, involving 1992-2005 health records of more than 16,000 children, is the first large examination of these drugs in U.K. children. It found the increase was mostly in medicines that haven’t been officially approved for kids. They were most commonly prescribed for behavior and conduct disorders, which include attention deficit disorder.

Explanations for the difference in the rate of drug use may vary, but according to the Journal Gazette, the UK’s universal health care system limits prescribing practices better than in the United States.

While drug company ties with doctors are common in both the U.S. and U.K., Vanderbilt University researcher Wayne Ray said U.K. physicians generally are more conservative about prescribing psychiatric drugs. Ray co-authored the U.S. study, published in 2004.

Dr. William Cooper, a Vanderbilt pediatrician, is quoted as claiming that drugs are being used “without full understanding about the risks.”

“I find it really interesting that we’re now seeing increases in other countries besides the U.S., which suggests that the magnitude of this issue is global,” Cooper said.

Photo: © jakintza_ikastola

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