The following information is extracted from the most accurate data available on the number of children and adolescents prescribed psychiatric drugs in the United States, including 0-5 year olds. The information is from IQVia (formerly IMS Health), the largest vendor of U.S. physician prescribing data. The following data was taken from the IQVia Total Patient Tracker Database for Year 2020, extracted January 2021.
To see drug side effects of these classes of psychiatric drugs being prescribed to children, click hyperlinks below in blue (i.e., ADHD Drugs, Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, etc).
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Note: The total number of individual children on psychiatric drugs was cited by IQVia as 6.155,852. The totals for each class of drug (i.e. ADHD or Antidepressant drugs) may include children on more than one class of drug, or, children who were also counted in the next year’s age bracket during a one-year period. The total number of children on all psychiatric drugs including age breakdown have been deduplicated so these are the total number of children prescribed drugs for the year.
Drug Class: Age Group: Number of Children & Adolescents:
All Psychiatric Drugs 0-17 Years 6,155,852
0-5 Years 418,425
Age Breakdown:
0-1 Years 85,003
2-3 Years 138,822
4-5 Years 215,120
6-12 Years 2,652,554
13-17 Years 3,188,966
ADHD Drugs 0-17 Years 3,155,441
0-5 Years 58,091
Age Breakdown:
0-1 Years 310
2-3 Years 1,300
4-5 Years 57,010
6-12 Years 1,750,481
13-17 Years 1,409,438
Antidepressants 0-17 Years 2,154,118
0-5 Years 35,216
Age Breakdown:
0-1 Years 7,811
2-3 Years 12,137
4-5 Years 18,911
6-12 Years 543,120
13-17 Years 1,605,375
Antipsychotics 0-17 Years 829,372
0-5 Years 30,632
Age Breakdown:
0-1 Years 1,318
2-3 Years 7,873
4-5 Years 22,180
6-12 Years 304,754
13-17 Years 502,372
Anti-anxiety Drugs 0-17 Years 1,153,351
0-5 Years 233,125
Age Breakdown:
0-1 Years 60,068
2-3 Years 89,453
4-5 Years 90,716
6-12 Years 357,976
13-17 Years 571,210
Mood Stabilizers 0-17 Years 794,715
0-5 Years 100,233
Age Breakdown:
0-1 Years 21,593
2-3 Years 36,986
4-5 Years 50,206
6-12 Years 289,262
13-17 Years 419,221
SOURCE: IQVia Total Patient Tracker (TPT) Database, Year 2020, Extracted January 2021.
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