{"id":19634,"date":"2021-01-06T14:37:51","date_gmt":"2021-01-06T19:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/?page_id=19634"},"modified":"2025-12-10T16:31:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T21:31:28","slug":"use-of-multiple-concurrent-antipsychotics-in-children-and-adolescents-apc","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/state-of-health-care-quality-report\/use-of-multiple-concurrent-antipsychotics-in-children-and-adolescents-apc\/","title":{"rendered":"Use of Multiple Concurrent Antipsychotics in Children and Adolescents (APC)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Assesses the percentage of children and adolescents who were on two or more concurrent antipsychotic medications for an extended period during the year.<\/p>\n<h2>Why It Matters<\/h2>\n<p>Antipsychotic prescribing in children and adolescents has increased rapidly in recent decades.<sup>1,2<\/sup> Among those prescribed an antipsychotic, about 1 in 10 are <strong>prescribed more than one antipsychotic at the same time<\/strong>.<sup>3<\/sup> Children and adolescents prescribed antipsychotics are at risk for serious health concerns. This includes weight gain, extrapyramidal side effects, hyperprolactinemia and some metabolic effects.<sup>4<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Risks of multiple concurrent antipsychotic use in children and adolescents has not been systematically investigated. Because of this, <strong>guidelines caution against their use<\/strong>. There is a lack of evidence supporting their use and the risks of these medications pose can be high.<sup>5<\/sup> This measure can highlight potentially unsafe use of antipsychotic medications.<\/p>\n<h2>Results<\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"table table-swipe\">\n    <div class=\"wrap\">\n        <table>\n                <thead>\n        <tr>\n            <th>USE OF CONCURRENT ANTIPSYCHOTICS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS<\/th><th><\/th><th><\/th><th><\/th><th><\/th>        <\/tr>\n        <\/thead>\n                <tbody>\n                <tr>\n                        <td data-heading=\"USE OF CONCURRENT ANTIPSYCHOTICS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS\"><\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">Commercial<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\"><\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\"><\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">Medicaid<\/td>\n                    <\/tr>\n                <tr>\n                        <td data-heading=\"USE OF CONCURRENT ANTIPSYCHOTICS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS\">Year<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">HMO<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">PPO<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">HMO\/PPO<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">HMO<\/td>\n                    <\/tr>\n                <tr>\n                        <td data-heading=\"USE OF CONCURRENT ANTIPSYCHOTICS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS\">2018<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.6<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.7<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.7<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.4<\/td>\n                    <\/tr>\n                <tr>\n                        <td data-heading=\"USE OF CONCURRENT ANTIPSYCHOTICS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS\">2017<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">3.0<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.8<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.9<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.4<\/td>\n                    <\/tr>\n                <tr>\n                        <td data-heading=\"USE OF CONCURRENT ANTIPSYCHOTICS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS\">2016<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.5<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.7<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.7<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.4<\/td>\n                    <\/tr>\n                <tr>\n                        <td data-heading=\"USE OF CONCURRENT ANTIPSYCHOTICS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS\">2015<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.5<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.9<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.7<\/td>\n                        <td data-heading=\"\">2.5<\/td>\n                    <\/tr>\n                <\/tbody>\n        <\/table>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>*Lower rates signify better performance.<\/p>\n<div class=\"footnotes\"><\/p>\n<h3>References<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Patten, S.B., W. Waheed, L. Bresee. 2012. \u201cA review of pharmacoepidemiologic studies of antipsychotic use in children and adolescents.\u201d <em>Canadian Journal of Psychiatry<\/em> 57:717\u201321.<\/li>\n<li>Cooper, W.O., P.G. Arbogast, H. Ding, G.B. Hickson, D.C. Fuchs, and W.A. Ray. 2006. \u201cTrends in prescribing of antipsychotic medications for US children.\u201d <em>Ambulatory Pediatrics<\/em> 6(2):79\u201383.<\/li>\n<li>Toteja, N., J.A. Gallego, E. Saito, T. Gerhard, A. Winterstein, M. Olfson, C.U. Correll. 2013. \u201cPrevalence and correlates of antipsychotic polypharmacy in children and adolescents receiving antipsychotic treatment.\u201d <em>International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology<\/em>17(7):1095\u2013105.<\/li>\n<li>Correll, C.U., C.J. Kratochvil, J.S. March. 2011. \u201cDevelopments in pediatric psychopharmacology: Focus on stimulants, antidepressants, and antipsychotics.\u201d <em>Journal of Clinical Psychiatry<\/em> 72:655\u201370.<\/li>\n<li>American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. September 2009. \u201cPractice parameter on the use of psychotropic medication in children and adolescents.\u201d <em>Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry<\/em> 48(9):961\u201373.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Assesses the percentage of children and adolescents who were on two or more concurrent antipsychotic medications for an extended period during the year. Why It Matters Antipsychotic prescribing in children and adolescents has increased rapidly in recent decades.1,2 Among those prescribed an antipsychotic, about 1 in 10 are prescribed more than one antipsychotic at the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":733,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19634","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Use of Multiple Concurrent Antipsychotics in Children and Adolescents (APC) - NCQA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Assesses the percentage of children and adolescents who were on two or more concurrent antipsychotic medications for an extended period during the year.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/state-of-health-care-quality-report\/use-of-multiple-concurrent-antipsychotics-in-children-and-adolescents-apc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Use of Multiple Concurrent Antipsychotics in Children and Adolescents (APC) - 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