U.S. children on mind-altering drugs more than Dutch, German

William Atkins
Saturday, 27 September 2008 21:39

Science - Health

The study concluded that psychotropic medication was prescribed to 6.7% of the children in the United States, 2.9% from the Netherlands, and 2.0% from Germany.

The abstract to their paper stated, “Antidepressant and stimulant prevalence were 3 or more times greater in the US than in the Netherlands and Germany, while antipsychotic prevalence was 1.5-2.2 times greater.”

According to WebMD.com, “Authors of the study credit a range of factors for the disparity, including different classification systems for diagnosis, different regulations, different drug reimbursement policies, and different cultural attitudes about using medication to treat behavior and emotional problems.” [WebMD: "U.S. or Europe: Whose Kids Are More Medicated?”]

Their paper concludes, “Prominent differences in psychotropic medication treatment patterns exist between youth in the US and Western Europe and within Western Europe. Differences in policies regarding direct to consumer drug advertising, government regulatory restrictions, reimbursement policies, as well as diagnostic classification systems, and cultural beliefs regarding the role of medication for emotional and behavioral treatment are likely to account for these differences.”

University of Maryland-Baltimore associate professor of pharmacy and psychiatry Dr. Julie Magno Zito, one of the authors of the study, said, within the WebMD article, that American society has a more "individualistic and activist therapeutic mentality” when it comes to medicine and drugs.

She also commented in a statement, as reported by WebMD, “… that widespread direct-to-consumer drug advertising in the United States may be a factor.”

The researchers and authors of the study are Julie M. Zito (U.S.), Daniel J. Safer (U.S.), Lolkje T.W. de Jong-van den Berg (Netherlands), Katrin Janhsen (Germany), Joerg M. Fegert (Germany), James F. Gardner (U.S.), Gerd Glaeske (Germany), and Satish C. Valluri (U.S.).