Psychoactive drug use before treatment in a child psychiatry clinic

The patterns of prescribed and illicit psychoactive drug use by patients before admission to a child and adolescent outpatient psychiatry clinic were evaluated over a 10-year period. The charts of 328 children initially seen by the clinic in 1970, 1975, and 1980 were reviewed retrospectively. Prescribed psychoactive medications and illicit drugs used before admission to the clinic were examined according to initial year of treatment, age, sex, race, and socioeconomic status. The study population included children and adolescents between the ages of one and eighteen; 65% were males and 87% were white. Over the study period, there was little change in the total percentage of patients using prescribed psychoactive medications (range, 23% to 29%); however, the use of psychostimulants increased and the use of neuroleptic drugs decreased. Illicit drug use was reported by 3% of the patients in 1970, 10% in 1975, and 15% in 1980. Over the study period, illicit drug use involved a wider range of drugs and was reported by patients at earlier ages. Boys had higher use rates of prescribed psychoactive medications than girls; however, girls reported using more illicit drugs than boys. Two percent of the study population reported using a combination of prescribed and illicit psychoactive drugs. Over the 10-year study period, there was little change in prescribed psychoactive drug use; however, illicit drug use increased significantly. Additional studies are needed to see if similar patterns exist in other centers.