ABSTRACT
It has been estimated that up to 10% of children have a psychiatric disorder that could be responsive to pharmacotherapy (Riddle et al. 1998). The most common of these conditions are attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, major depressive disorder, and anxiety. Although the past decade has seen the introduction of numerous psychoactive drugs for the treatment of these and other diseases, the safety and efficacy of these drugs has generally not been studied in children. The lack of testing requires clinicians to prescribe medications without an FDAapproved indication for use in the pediatric population. Several psychiatric drugs (fluoxetine, sertraline, methylphenidate) are among the most common drugs prescribed off-label (Riddle et al. 1998). Pharmacoepidemiological research also suggests that the concurrent use of more than one psychotropic medication is increasing in children, raising the possibility of hazardous drug interactions (Vitiello and Hoagwood 1997).
