Frequency of psychotropic drug prescribing for children in Tampere, Finland.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the frequency with which psychotropic drugs are prescribed for children under 10 years of age in outpatient care in Finland. This frequency was estimated from the reimbursements paid by the Social Insurance Office of Tampere City in 1974. Every third psychotropic drug prescribed for children born in 1965-74 was included. This resulted in 319 children with 375 psychotropic drug prescriptions. About 4% of children under 10 years old in the Tampere area had received within one years's time one or more psychotropic drugs in outpatient care. About half of the psychotropic drugs were prescribed by general practitioners. Sedatives were the most frequently prescribed drugs, especially in the younger are groups. Antidepressants and antiepileptics were common in the older age groups. The most commonly specified indications were fever and restlessness.