Study shows psychotropic medication use has increased in children, teens with type 1 diabetes

Dispensing of psychotropic medication increased among children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D) from 2006 to 2019, according to a study published online Oct. 3 in JAMA Network Open.

Shengxin Liu, from the Karolinska Institutet in Solna, Sweden, and colleagues examined trends and patterns of psychotropic medication dispensing among 13,200 children and adolescents with T1D in Sweden between 2006 and 2019. Trends were compared to those among more than 3.7 million children in the general population without T1D.

The researchers found that psychotropic medication dispensing increased from 0.85 to 3.84% among children and from 2.72 to 13.54% among adolescents with T1D, consistently higher than their peers without T1D. Hypnotics, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medications, anxiolytics, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were the most commonly dispensed medications, and all exhibited increasing trends. Psychiatric care was the primary prescription source among those with T1D, and up to 50.1% of treatments lasted more than 12 months.

"These findings call for further in-depth investigations into the benefits and risks of psychotropic medications within this population and highlight the importance of integrating pediatric diabetes care and mental health care for early detection of psychological needs and careful monitoring of medication use," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.