Analysis reveals polypharmacy may be common among children with autism.

Medscape (5/14, Frei) reported that, according to a study presented at an autism meeting, “an analysis of medication use in children with autism reveals polypharmacy is common, with up to 20 percent of children between the ages of three and 12 years being prescribed four or more medications.” For the analysis, researchers from the University of Washington-Seattle “included 75 children enrolled in the long-term Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism. The study found that 52 percent used at least one psychotropic medication between the ages of three and 12 years, and 20 percent had taken four or more.” Medicines most commonly prescribed “were stimulants and antidepressants, followed by antipsychotics and other psychotropics.” In fact, the “team found antidepressants were initiated in children as young as three years old and antipsychotics in children as young as four years old.” The authors “didn’t expect to see so much polypharmacy,” they said.

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