Babies Given Antidepressants In New Zealand
10 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // September 10th, 2007 // 8:35 am
Medical authorities are ‘mystified and concerned’ at figures suggesting antidepressant drugs are being prescribed for children, some less than a year old, according to a report in the New Zealand Herald. A look at records at Pharmac, the national drug buying agency, suggests thousands of scrips are being written annually for children under 10.
Normally, antidepressants aren’t usually prescribed to children younger than 8, and more commonly aren’t used on those younger than 13. And since depression isn’t found in babies - how could one tell, anyway? - docs contacted by the paper could see no reason for prescribing antidepressants for the wee ones.
The number of state-funded antidepressant prescriptions has nearly doubled since 2000 to more than a million a year, costing the Government about $30 million. Figures given by Pharmac to the United Future Party show 4,728 antidepressant scrips were written for kids younger than 10 in 2004-05, declining to 2,425 in the last June year.
Causing most alarm are the figures for babies, even though they dropped sharply during the three years. For 1-year-olds, 768 prescriptions were written in 2004-05, down to 24 by last year. For those under 1, there were 453 prescriptions in 2004-05 but only nine last year. The numbers also declined for other age groups under 10, but each group remained in the hundreds last year.
The decline likely reflect a government warning in 2004 that antidepressants could increase the risk of suicide.
“I can’t understand them,” Pharmac medical director Peter Moodie tells the paper, adding that wrong coding of dates of birth could explain the single-digit figures, “but when it’s hundreds, one assumes the figures are right”. Pharmac, he says, will re-check them and look to see which doctors had prescribed them to children and ask regulators to look at the issue.
United Future health spokeswoman Judy Turner said the figures were frightening. “Babies are born with only 15 per cent of their brain fully developed; 85 per cent of development happens from 0 to 3 years,” she tells the paper. “Surely the antidepressants will interfere with the hard-wiring of the children’s brains and influence their long-term wellbeing.”
The clinical director of paediatrics at Kidz First children’s hospital in Otahuhu, Wendy Walker, had never used antidepressants with babies, nor heard of anyone else doing so. “I would never prescribe them in my practice as a hospital-based acute paediatrician.”
John Werry, a child psychiatrist, says that “as far as we know” giving SSRIs to babies would not harm them. “But one doesn’t like to give growing and developing kids medications that affect basic bio-cyclic processes because it just doesn’t seem like a good idea unless the kid is really in severe difficulty.” He adds it would be rare prescribe antidepressants before the teenage years, and that the youngest child he had prescribed one to was a boy with autism aged 8 or 9, but that was “very exceptional”.
Auckland City Hospital neonatal paediatrician Simon Rowley says he would “never dream” of prescribing antidepressants to anyone under about 10, and was sceptical of the Pharmac figures.
Lisa Van Syckel
In the New Jersey Medicaid Program: (Oct.2006)
–Mor than 39,000 total Psychotropic drug prescriptions for children under 18
–647 Prescription for children age 4 or less—
–211 antipsychotic prescriptions for children 4 or less—
including 174 prescriptions for Risperdal
–28 Psychotropic drug prescriptions for children age 2—
–19 Psychotropic drug prescriptions for children under 12 Months— Including 3 Antipsychotics
Prescribing Doctors:
Zaidi,Sajjad- MD = Zoloft,Abilify Ambien(under 12 months)
Hewitt,Lynne -CNP= Zoloft(under 12 months,1yr old)
Ileana Bernal-MD=(Risperdal,Zyprexa 3-5 year olds)
Gomez,Arturo-MD=Effexor,Risperdal(under 12 Months)
Mortensen,Jill DO=(2-3 year olds)
Wark,James MD=(Fluoxetine 1-2 year olds)
Leib,George MD=(Zyprexa 3year olds)
Information was taken from NJ Medicaid Record That was obtained through FOIA.
Will make document available to whoever wishes to see it……
Mother Jones, RN
This comes under that catagory of “what are these people thinking.” I bet its the parents who really need the drugs, not the kids.
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Mr Nurse USA
This is a blatant violation of children’s HUMAN RIGHTS. This is experimentation as there are no long-term adverse effects studies available on SSRIs and childrens’ nervous system. When do we want to find out if there are…..after the damage is done 18 years later? We haven’t learned from our lessons in the past, psychotropic drugs are damaging to humans. I hope this becomes a criminal issue soon.
Lisa Van Syckel
Mother Jones,
It is the Physician with pen, and prescription pad in hand!!!……….
Are these Doctors telling Parents that Risperdal is safe and effective,for babies with colick……and colicky babies are at greater risk for Bipolar Disorder….
Or are they telling parents that its a mild sedative!!!!…..
The list of prescribing Doctors I posted on earlier today is less than a handful of Doctors and Nurses who are listed in the NJ Medicaid Record.
Donna
Over and Above everything else i’ve learned about these drug’s and the damage they’re capable of causing. This is the sickest thing i’ve heard so far !!!!! What diagnosis could these treatment’s possibly be based on?? Seriously an infant with colick??? or maybe 2yr. old little Bobby’s not as outgoing at the playground or in daycare as the rest of the children, is his shyness being misdiagnosed for depression??? You’ve got to be kidding me…………..My advice as a Mom to all young parent’s starting out, talk to someone with grown children, even grandchildren , what you view as odd behavior, could very well be normal….I could’nt tell if they were teething or had a cold and guess what neither could the doctor…so be careful with your babies….
Lisa Van Syckel
Can You Imagine prescribing Risperdal for teething!!!….
OOOH, How frightning is that….
Donna
frightening yes, but i would’nt be surprised……..
Donna
i also agree that it’s the physician with pen and prescription pad in hand………but we all know what can happen to a child who is misdiagnosed with having depresssion and treated with antidepressant’s, infant’s and toddler’s i can’t even beleive they are given these drug’s….now a day’s i’d be afraid to tell the pediatrician that my toddler was exploring his anatomy…they might have a pill to cure that ,…can you imagine
Jane
I wouldn’t tell a Dr my baby cried or gave up interest in an old toy for a new one. Surely those symptoms would get a prescription everytime.
All the bull crap put out that anti-whatevers are not dangerous has to stop.
These drugs are dangerous to adults-what the hell are you thinking giving them to infants.
I certainly hope criminal prosecution one days follows these MD’s.