Sunday May 2 12:45 AM ET

Study Questions Prozac-Like Drugs For Children

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Reuters) - Researchers Saturday questioned the widespread use of Prozac-like drugs to treat mild or moderate mental illness in children despite lack of scientific evidence about their safety or effectiveness.

More than 500,000 prescriptions a year are written for the newest class of antidepressant drugs -- SSRIs, or serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors -- without scientific evidence of the drugs' safety and effectiveness in children, said Jerry Rushton, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

``Our survey data suggests that despite a lack of research support, adequate training and comfort with the management of depression, SSRI's are gaining physician acceptance and becoming incorporated into primary care practice,'' Rushton said in a statement released by the university.

Rushton, who presented results of a survey of physicians' prescription practices Saturday to a pediatric medical conference in San Francisco, said SSRIs now account for 69 percent of prescriptions written to treat childhood depression.

He said Prozac, the most-commonly prescribed SSRI for children, may be following Ritalin as the drug of choice in the controversial treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Approved by the Food and Drug Administration for patients over 18 years of age, SSRIs also are being prescribed for children to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder, aggression-conduct disorder and even bed-wetting, he said.

Rushton said the effects of ``psychoactive'' drugs like SSRIs on developing central nervous system are still unknown, and the drugs have been documented to cause sleep disturbances and behavioral changes in children.

``I think these medications are starting to show promise,'' he said. However, they should be used with caution and monitored closely, not used haphazardly for transient symptoms -- not for school problems or nebulous behavioral problems.''