ArticlePsychopharmacology2021
Psychotropic use in children and adolescents in Scandinavia and Catalonia: a 10-year population-based study.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 21 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
- Trends in antipsychotic drug utilisation and indication in the paediatric population: a nationwide cohort study in Sweden.BMJ mental health · 2026Article
- Drug utilisation of antipsychotics and lithium in Sweden 2008-2021 - a nationwide study of children aged 5-17 years.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Gender differences in adolescent anxiolytic, hypnotic and sedative use across 32 European countries: a multilevel analysis of the influence of country-level gender inequality and economic factors.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- Incidence trends and clinical management of self-harm in adolescents and young adults in catalonia: primary care cohort study (2013-2022).European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Pediatric Somatic and Psychiatric Hospital Contacts in Denmark: A National Overview of Risk Factors, Admissions, and Mortality.Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica · 2026Article
- Psychotropic dispensing in Greek adolescents and young adults: national trends and regional variation.Frontiers in drug safety and regulation · 2026Article
- Role of gender, age and rurality in benzodiazepine consumption in Catalonia, 2018-2022: a retrospective longitudinal drug utilisation study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Incidence and trend of cardiac events among children and young adults exposed to psychopharmacological treatment (2006-2018): A nationwide register-based study.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2025Article
- Building up bit by bit, parent's experiences of equine-assisted intervention among children and adolescents with mental illness: a grounded theory study.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2024Article
- Use of Antidepressant and Anxiolytic Drugs in Scandinavian Countries between 2006 and 2021: A Prescription Database Study.Depression and anxiety · 2024Article
- Geographic variation and sociodemographic correlates of prescription psychotropic drug use among children and youth in Ontario, Canada: a population-based study.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Prefrontal cortex neural activity predicts reduction of non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents with major depressive disorder: An event related potential study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleThe use of psychotropic drugs in the paediatric population has not been the subject of many studies, due to the fact that this population is generally not included in clinical trials and these drugs are not authorized for use on minors.
objectivesThis study aims to provide an accurate description of psychotropic drug use in children and adolescents in the North of Europe and Catalonia.
methodsData from 2008 to 2017 on psychotropic drug consumption in children and adolescents were retrieved from the databases of Catalonia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Psychotropic drugs were divided into antipsychotics, anxiolytics (also hypnotics and sedatives), antidepressants and psychostimulants. Data were stratified by group of age (0-4, 5-9, 10-14 and 15-19/15-17 for Denmark and Catalonia) and sex.
resultsOverall, the group of anxiolytics shows the highest consumption and the group of antipsychotics the lowest. In 2017, Sweden was the country with the highest consumption of psychotropic drugs (6.67‰) and has the highest increase in consumption (152.8%), and Denmark has the lowest consumption for all groups (3.13‰). Catalonia shows a decrease in psychotropic drugs (-15.9%). Girls consume more than twice as many antidepressants as boys while the opposite is true for psychostimulants. Risperidone and quetiapine are among the most consumed antipsychotics in the Nordic countries, whereas in Catalonia they are risperidone and aripiprazole. Among antidepressants, sertraline is the most consumed. No differences are found among the psychostimulants.
conclusionsPsychotropic consumption in younger populations is increasing, although there are differences between the countries as far as which drugs are used. Nordic countries show a higher prevalence of use than Catalonia. Psychotropic drug consumption increases with age, except for psychostimulants, which have the highest utilization rate among 10-14-year-olds.
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