“Newer Generation” Antipsychotics Suspected to Result in Deaths of Children

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Health Canada has received an extensive number of reports complaining about serious worries in children taking powerful antipsychotics, including deaths. Even though initially schizophrenia and mania was only subscribed to adults, it is now being increasingly prescribed to children as young as preschoolers.

It was reported that until Dec. 31, 2012, Health Canada received a total of 17 fatal reports in children related to so-called “second generation antipsychotics,” or SGAs, out of which, four reports attributed to death of babies who were exposed to antipsychotics in the womb. The use of said drugs is becoming substantially increased in children over the last decade. In the four years period, from 2005 to 2009, antipsychotic drug prescriptions for children and youth in Canada were seen to have increased by 114 per cent, regardless of limited evidence about their safety in children.

It was observed that the drugs were being used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, “conduct” disorders, mood disorders, aggression and other behavioral problems. However, only one of these drugs, i.e. aripiprazole or Abilify, has been permitted for use in children, provided it is being used for the treatment of schizophrenia in teenagers 15 to 17. Additionally, reports highlighted that majority of the children were on multiple different medications at the time, where few of the victims died from completed suicides. An associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Dina Panagiotopoulos, explained that “it may just be that the severity of the mental health concern resulted in suicide.”