ArticleBMC pediatrics2025
Association between a publicly funded universal drug program and antipsychotic and antidepressant medication dispensing to children.
Article in BMC pediatrics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Psychotropic dispensing in Greek adolescents and young adults: national trends and regional variation.Frontiers in drug safety and regulation · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe prescribing of antidepressants and antipsychotics to children has increased worldwide, but little is known about how changes in drug funding policy influence the practice. In 2018, Ontario introduced a universal pharmacare program (OHIP+) for children and youth, amending it in April 2019 to cover only those without private insurance. We examined the association of these policy changes with antipsychotic and antidepressant medication prescribing.
methodsWe conducted a population-based study of antidepressant and antipsychotic medication dispensing to children ≤ 18 years old between September 1, 2014, and February 29, 2020. We obtained dispensing data from the IQVIA Geographic Prescription Monitor database, and used interventional autoregressive integrated moving average models to examine whether the implementation of OHIP + and its subsequent revision were associated with changes in dispensing.
resultsThe implementation of OHIP + was not associated with changes in the rate of antidepressants (-19.3 units per 1,000 population; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -41.7 to 3.1) or antipsychotics (+ 1.0 unit per 1,000 population; 95% CI: -5.4 to 7.5) dispensed. Similarly, subsequent changes to the program restricting coverage to children without private insurance were not associated with antidepressant (0.3 units per 1,000; 95% CI: -7.4 to 7.9) or antipsychotic (1.0 units per 1,000; 95% CI: -0.9 to 2.9) dispensing trends.
conclusionImplementation of a publicly-funded pharmacare program did not influence trends in antidepressant or antipsychotic medication dispensing among children.
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