A retrospective cohort study of prescription drug use among youth with intellectual/developmental disabilities in British Columbia.
Nearly one in three youth with IDD are on two or more psychotropic drugs—start systematic medication reviews.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers looked at every prescription filled by youth with intellectual or developmental disabilities in British Columbia.
They tracked the kids for one full year using government health records.
The team counted how many got antipsychotics, mood drugs, ADHD meds, and other psychotropics.
What they found
One in three youth with IDD took two or more drug classes in the same year.
Kids with IDD were five times more likely to get drug cocktails than typical peers.
Every single drug class showed higher use, not just one or two.
How this fits with other research
Scheifes et al. (2013) saw the same a large share rate, but only in kids living in institutions.
The new study shows the problem is just as big in the general community.
Patton et al. (2020) found adults in crisis averaged four meds each.
The BC youth data now proves heavy drug use starts early and lasts across the lifespan.
Nangle et al. (1993) already showed meds outrank timeout by far.
Today’s numbers confirm pills coats, not behavior plans, remain the first-line fix.
Why it matters
You can’t treat what you can’t see. Build a five-minute med check into every FBA. Ask the family to bring bottles to the next visit. Flag any kid on two or more psychotropics for a team review with the prescribing doctor. Your behavior data may be the clearest signal of drug effects.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: People with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD) are known to have high rates of prescription drug use, particularly for psychotropic medications. This is of concern due to the many side effects associated with these medications and because of the risks of polypharmacy. In this paper we compare the most commonly dispensed drugs and all psychotropic medications for youth with IDD compared with youth without IDD. METHODS: Using population-level administrative health data over a 10-year period, this study examined medications dispensed to youth with an IDD aged 15-24 years compared with youth without an IDD. The most common medications dispensed and the number of youth they were dispensed to were determined. As well a wide variety of psychotropic medications were examined. RESULTS: There were a total of 20 591 youth with IDD and 1 293 791 youth without IDD identified. Youth with IDD had higher odds of being dispensed pain medications, amoxicillin, salbutamol, levothyroxine and all the psychotropic medications (antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, anti-adrenergic agents, mood stabilisers and stimulants). For youth with IDD, 6558 (31.85%) were dispensed two or more different psychotropic medications within a year, compared with 75 963 (5.87%) of youth without IDD. DISCUSSION: Compared to youth without IDD, youth with IDD had significantly higher odds of being dispensed most of the prescription medications studied, including all of the psychotropic medications. They were also twice as likely to be dispensed two or more medications from different classes of psychotropic drugs within the same year. These findings have important implications for the health of people with IDD and for their health care providers.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2024 · doi:10.1111/jir.13147