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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Public health warnings issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) following reports that antidepressants could increase suicide risks in children and adolescents appear to have had their intended effect.
Emory University researchers in Atlanta find prescriptions for these drugs dropped significantly after the FDA got involved, falling by about 4 percent per month between February and July 2004. Concerns regarding the drugs first came to light at the end of October 2003 when the FDA issued a public health advisory and culminated in March of 2004 when it began requiring manufacturers to include black box warnings on their product labels calling for children and adults to be closely monitored while on the medications.
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The advisories and warnings also appear to have changed the type of physician writing these prescriptions. Results show psychiatrists made up 44 percent of doctors caring for antidepressant patients younger than 18 between December 2003 and February 2004. A year later they were caring for 63 percent of these patients.
The authors believe these results show FDA warnings do make a big impact on the health care system. While noting prescriptions for antidepressants in children and adolescents do not appear to be declining further -- their results show the number of these prescriptions stabilized between July of 2004 and March of 2005 -- they call for additional study to ensure "dissemination of drug safety information does not interfere with appropriate access to care."
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry, 2007;64:466-472
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