A Retrospective Chart Review of Factors Impacting Psychotropic Prescribing Patterns and Polypharmacy Rates in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT: High but variable rates of psychotropic polypharmacy (PP) in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been reported in previous studies. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on prescribing patterns has not been well described. This study aims to examine the factors associated with psychotropic prescribing patterns, including rates of PP and multiclass polypharmacy (MPP) in youth with ASD during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the prescription records and clinical characteristics of youth aged between 3-21 years with a clinical diagnosis of ASD who were followed at an urban tertiary autism center psychiatry clinic between 1 January 2019, and 31 December 2020. For study purposes, we treated 2019 as the pre-pandemic year and 2020 as the pandemic year and compared the clinical characte

SUBMITTER: Taniguchi E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9410032 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature