The latest data confirm that there are “no long-term differences between
children who were continuously medicated and those who were never medicated,”
the Washington Post reports, citing the
Journal of the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry. Meanwhile, the number of scrips for ADHD meds grew
to 39.5 million last year from 28.3 million in 2004. …
None of the atypicals have been approved by the FDA for use on
preschoolers, and Florida Medicaid guidelines recommend they be used on this age
group “only in the most extraordinary of circumstances.” But those warnings
didn’t slow a tsunami of atypical prescribing. Between 2001 and 2004, the number
of kids under 6 taking atypicals increased 300 percent. For all youths under 19,
the increase was about 250 percent. …