The Charlotte Observer

THURSDAY, MAY 10,2001

Use of antidepressant drugs by youths soars

NEW ORLEANS--The use of antidepressants soared among children and teen-agers between 1988 and 1994, a study says. The study, which gathered data on 900,000 youths ages 2 to 19, found threefold to five-fold increases over the seven-year span, based on data from two state Medicaid systems and a health maintenance organization. The sharp rise could reflect a needed increase after years of under recognition and under-treatment of disorders, said Julie Zito, an associate professor of pharmacy and medicine at the University of Maryland. But she said it is also possible the drugs are being overused. In 1994, about 1.8 percent of children in the Medicaid programs and about 1.3 percent in the HMO were taking antidepressants, Zito said.