BC Hospital Opens Clinic For Youth Taking Antipsychotics
BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver opened a clinic in April to help youth under the age of 18 deal with the side effects of atypical antipsychotic drugs. Atypical antipsychotics, especially risperidone (Risperdal), have been increasingly prescribed to children under the age of 18 as the number of bipolar disgnoses among youth increases. Risperidone has not been approved in Canada for the treatment of bipolar disorder in those under 18, though it has been approved for use in the United States for children as young as 10. Risperidone has a number of possible side effects that need to be monitored, including muscular problems, tremors and twitching. The main focus of this clinic, however, is the large amount of weight gain that seems to be common in youth on risperidone, and which can lead to diabetes. The clinic monitors the heath and weight of the children overall, including providing information and advice about diet and exercise. More about the story can be found in the Vancouver Sun here.
Commentary
Many of the scary statistics we see around bipolar disorder in children are an artifact of the previous belief that children cannot be bipolar, leading to very large-sounding relative increases. Nonetheless, this does not mean that youth taking risperidone should not be properly monitored. In fact, so much public debate has been focused on whether or not antipsychotics in children should be used, very little debate has focused on how they should be properly monitored. Since weight gain seems to be especially pronounced among children on antipsychotics, a clinic like this one is especially important. After all, simply saying that children (or adults for that matter) should be properly monitored for weight gain and loss of glucose control doesn’t mean that it will actually happen, unless institutional support for said monitoring is put in place. This clinic puts in place a resource for patients and physicians to ensure that youth taking atypical psychotics are properly monitored.
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