The New York Times (2/16, Richtel ) reported “growing numbers of children and adolescents are being prescribed multiple psychiatric drugs to take simultaneously, according to a” study published in a research letter in JAMA Network Open that “looked at the prescribing patterns among patients 17 or younger enrolled in Medicaid in Maryland from 2015 to 2020.” The study “found that in 2015, 4.2 percent of Medicaid enrollees under the age of 17 in Maryland had overlapping prescriptions of three or more different classes of psychiatric medications.” The “figure rose to 4.6 percent in 2020.” The data reveal that psychotropic polypharmacy “‘was significantly more likely among youths who were disabled or in foster care,’ the new study noted.”
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