poledriver
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
- Messages
- 11,543
Time to stop over-prescribing antipsychotics to adults with developmental disabilities
In our recent study published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, we report that nearly 40 per cent of adults with developmental disabilities in Ontario were prescribed antipsychotics over a six-year period. Sixty per cent of the individuals prescribed these medications did not have the psychiatric diagnoses for which these drugs are generally studied and approved.
This kind of prescribing has costs for all of us.
Antipsychotic medications are expensive and their use in this population cost the Ontario government more than $117 million during the six-year study period. Scale this amount across the country and the price tag becomes even more significant. If any of that prescribing is potentially inappropriate, as our study suggests, that’s a lot of public health dollars that could be better spent elsewhere to support these individuals.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Without proper monitoring, antipsychotic medication use can lead to serious health issues. In this study, one in five adults on these drugs had hypertension and one in six had diabetes — rates higher than what is seen generally and for adults with developmental disabilities. These medications can also cause serious movement disorders and poorly managed side-effects can even contribute to mortality.
So why do doctors so frequently prescribe antipsychotic medications to adults with developmental disabilities?
We can’t say for sure but we know the problem isn’t new — over-medicating those with developmental disabilities is an ugly hallmark of our past. There are many possible reasons why it continues today
Most Canadian health practitioners have limited to no training about developmental disabilities. Add to that a health system that has inadequate primary care and mental health services for people with developmental disabilities. Then consider the stressful environments that can lead to difficult behaviours: exhausted caregivers who lack support and education and labour systems that too often ignore the special needs of those with developmental disabilities.
Cont -
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/com...o-adults-with-developmental-disabilities.html
In our recent study published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, we report that nearly 40 per cent of adults with developmental disabilities in Ontario were prescribed antipsychotics over a six-year period. Sixty per cent of the individuals prescribed these medications did not have the psychiatric diagnoses for which these drugs are generally studied and approved.
This kind of prescribing has costs for all of us.
Antipsychotic medications are expensive and their use in this population cost the Ontario government more than $117 million during the six-year study period. Scale this amount across the country and the price tag becomes even more significant. If any of that prescribing is potentially inappropriate, as our study suggests, that’s a lot of public health dollars that could be better spent elsewhere to support these individuals.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Without proper monitoring, antipsychotic medication use can lead to serious health issues. In this study, one in five adults on these drugs had hypertension and one in six had diabetes — rates higher than what is seen generally and for adults with developmental disabilities. These medications can also cause serious movement disorders and poorly managed side-effects can even contribute to mortality.
So why do doctors so frequently prescribe antipsychotic medications to adults with developmental disabilities?
We can’t say for sure but we know the problem isn’t new — over-medicating those with developmental disabilities is an ugly hallmark of our past. There are many possible reasons why it continues today
Most Canadian health practitioners have limited to no training about developmental disabilities. Add to that a health system that has inadequate primary care and mental health services for people with developmental disabilities. Then consider the stressful environments that can lead to difficult behaviours: exhausted caregivers who lack support and education and labour systems that too often ignore the special needs of those with developmental disabilities.
Cont -
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/com...o-adults-with-developmental-disabilities.html
