Antidepressant Dispensing to Adolescents and Young Adults Surged During Pandemic

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

Antidepressant dispensing to adolescents and young adults increased sharply after the COVID-19 pandemic began—particularly among females—a new study finds.

While a growing number of young people ages 12 to 25 were receiving antidepressants before the pandemic, the antidepressant dispensing rate rose nearly 64% faster after March 2020, according to Michigan Medicine-led findings published in Pediatrics.

"Antidepressant dispensing to adolescents and young adults was already high and rising before March 2020. Our findings suggest these trends accelerated during the pandemic," said lead author Kao Ping Chua, M.D., Ph.D., a pediatrician and researcher at University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and the Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center.

Researchers analyzed data from a national database reporting 92% of prescriptions dispensed in U.S. pharmacies. They found that the increase in the antidepressant dispensing rate during the pandemic was driven by females.

After March 2020, this rate increased 130% faster among female adolescents ages 12–17 years and 60% faster among female young adults ages 18–25 years.

"Multiple studies suggest that rates of anxiety and depression among female adolescents increased during the pandemic," Chua said. "These studies, coupled with our findings, suggest the pandemic exacerbated a pre-existing mental health crisis in this group."

In contrast to females, the antidepressant dispensing rate changed little among male young adults after March 2020 and declined among male adolescents, which Chua found surprising.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-antidepressant-adolescents-young-adults-surges.html