Diagnosis and Treatment of Teen Depression Since the FDA Warnings

Five years after the FDA warnings about antidepressant-associated suicidality, diagnosing and prescribing practices continue to change.

Antidepressant prescriptions to adolescents declined soon after the 2004 FDA black-box warning and treatment guidelines regarding antidepressant-associated suicidality in teens. To learn more about this phenomenon, researchers analyzed 2000–2009 records of 57,782 enrollees aged 10 to 17 years at a single health maintenance organization.

Data included clinical diagnoses (based on ICD-9; ranging from major depression to adjustment reactions) and the number of prescriptions, refills, and preauthorized refills. Slopes of change before and after the first FDA advisory in late 2003 were examined. Because 79% of antidepressant prescriptions were for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, analysis by antidepressant type could not be performed.

Befo…

Reviewing Author

Barbara Geller, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Barbara Geller, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Diagnosis and Treatment of Teen Depression Since the FDA Warnings

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Reviewing Author