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Trends in psychiatric disorders prevalence and prescription patterns of children in Alberta, Canada

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Abstract

Purpose

To describe the trends in the prevalence and incidence of children with psychiatric disorders, the types of medication prescribed, and the type of physician providing the prescriptions.

Method

This retrospective study linked six population-based administrative databases (2008–2015) in Alberta, Canada.

Results

The prevalence of paediatric psychiatric disorders increased from 12.6 per 100 population in 2008 to 15.0 per 100 population in 2015, while the incidence rate increased from 2.0 per 100 population to 2.2 per 100 population in the same period. The proportion of patients dispensed any psychiatric medication increased from 21.4% in 2008 to 28.2% in 2015. Over the same period, dispensations for antidepressants increased from 7.0% to 11.2% and stimulants to treat ADHD, from 11.9% to 15.9%. For antidepressants, general practitioners (GPs) wrote the highest proportion of prescriptions (44.3% in 2011–48.1% in 2015), while paediatricians wrote the lowest proportion (8.7% in 2011–11.0% in 2015) and the proportion by psychiatrists decreased from 33.4% in 2011 to 27.2% in 2015. For stimulants to treat ADHD, paediatricians were the most frequent prescribers (36.9% in 2011–39.3% in 2015) followed by GPs as the second most frequent (33.1% in 2011–33.5% in 2015), while psychiatrists were the least likely to prescribe stimulants for ADHD.

Conclusion

The increasing trend of psychiatric diagnoses and medication prescriptions in the paediatric population is evident using population-based administrative databases. The lack of safety and adverse consequences of medication use in this cohort warrants additional monitoring data.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank Jeff Bakal, Lead of Health Research Methods and Analytics Alberta Health Services/University of Alberta, and SPOR Data Platform for his input into developing this paper.

Funding

None declared.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada

    Brenda M Y Leung & Peter Kellett

  2. Health Research Methods and Analytics/SPOR Data Platform, Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

    Erik Youngson & Josh Hathaway

  3. Departments of Paediatrics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

    Maria Santana

Authors
  1. Brenda M Y Leung
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  2. Peter Kellett
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  3. Erik Youngson
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  4. Josh Hathaway
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brenda M Y Leung.

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Conflict of interest

The authors are unaware of any real or perceived conflicts of interest.

Data access

Data for this manuscript came from multiple administrative databases accessed through the Health Research Methods and Analytics unit, Alberta Health Services.

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Leung, B.M.Y., Kellett, P., Youngson, E. et al. Trends in psychiatric disorders prevalence and prescription patterns of children in Alberta, Canada. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 54, 1565–1574 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-019-01714-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-019-01714-w

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