ArticleClinical epidemiology2012
Increase in psychotropic drug use between 2006 and 2010 among adolescents in Norway: a nationwide prescription database study.
Article in Clinical epidemiology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trends in age-sex-specific prevalence and incidence of antidepressant dispensation in the Nordic countries: a systematic review.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- Psychotropic drug use among children and adolescents in the Nordic countries: a systematic review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Prescription prevalence of psychotropic drugs in children and adolescents: an analysis of international data.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2019Pooled it
- Melatonin: A Potential Candidate for the Treatment of Experimental and Clinical Perinatal Asphyxia.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Associations between treatment with melatonin and suicidal behavior: a nationwide cohort study.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2022Article
- The Prevalence of Psychotropic Drugs and Relevant Factors in Iranian Youth: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Addiction & health · 2021Review
- Leisure-time physical activity among adolescents and subsequent use of antidepressant and hypnotic drugs: a prospective register linkage study.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2019Article
- Benzodiazepine prescribing for children, adolescents, and young adults from 2006 through 2013: A total population register-linkage study.PLoS medicine · 2018Article
- Psychotropic medicine prescriptions in Italian youths: a multiregional study.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2016Article
- Psychotropic drug use among 0-17 year olds during 2004-2014: a nationwide prescription database study.BMC psychiatry · 2016Article
- Benzodiazepine prescribing guideline adherence and misuse potential in Irish minors.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2015Article
- Public health nurses' perception of their roles in relation to psychotropic drug use by adolescents: a phenomenographic study.Journal of clinical nursing · 2015Article
- Use of SSRIs among Danish children: a nationwide study.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe purposes of this study were to investigate the prevalence of psychotropic (hypnotic, antidepressant, and anxiolytic) drug use among adolescents aged 15-16 years during the period 2006-2010 according to gender and subcategories of psychotropics, and to study psychotropic drug use over the period 2007-2010 among incident users in 2007.
methodsThis was a one-year prevalence and follow-up study based on information retrieved from the nationwide Norwegian prescription database for the period 2006-2010. The study population consisted of adolescents aged 15-16 years who had filled at least one prescription for a psychotropic drug in the study period. The main outcome measures were filling of hypnotic, antidepressant, and/or anxiolytic drug prescriptions.
resultsOverall use of psychotropic drugs increased from 13.9 to 21.5 per 1000 among boys and from 19.7 to 24.7 per 1000 among girls during the 2006- 2010 period. Hypnotic drugs, and melatonin in particular, accounted for most of the increase. For melatonin, the annual median amount dispensed was 180 defined daily doses through the period until 2010, at which time it decreased to 90 defined daily doses. In total, 16.4% of all incident psychotropic drug users in 2007 were still having prescriptions dispensed in 2010.
conclusionThis study shows an increase in hypnotic drugs dispensed for adolescents in Norway, mainly attributable to the increasing use of melatonin. The amount of melatonin dispensed indicates more than sporadic use over longer periods, despite melatonin only being licensed in Norway for use in insomnia for individuals aged 55 years or older.
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