title: Interstate variations in psychotropic medication use among a national sample of children in the child welfare system.
abstract: Geographic variations in service utilization have emerged as sentinels of quality of care. We used data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Area Resource File to examine interstate variations in psychotropic medication use among children coming into contact with child welfare agencies. Mean probabilities of medication use differed by 13% between California (7.1%) and Texas (20.1%). On regression analyses, children in California had a fifth of the odds of medication use compared to children in Texas, principally, because child characteristics of age, gender, foster care placement, and mental health need seem to be evaluated differently in Texas compared to in other states. These findings suggest that interstate variations in psychotropic medication use are driven by child characteristics, rather than by mental health need. Understanding the clinical contexts of psychotropic medication use is necessary to assure high-quality care for these children.
authors.affiliation: Brown School, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. raghavan@wustl.edu
authors.forename: Ramesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raghavan
authors.forename: Gyanesh
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lama
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kohl
authors.forename: Barton
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hamilton
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017723:Drug Utilization Review; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007358:Insurance, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011336:Probability; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs