The researchers conclude that their findings appear to reinforce recommendations for careful prescribing and monitoring of antipsychotic treatment for children and youths.
An editorial discusses this treatment paradox, as instinctively, it might seem that children and adolescents who are physically healthy would sustain fewer and less serious adversities from antipsychotic medications than adult patients. It questions whether some of the deaths were undetected suicides, because patients on high doses of antipsychotics had high rates of mood disorders and a attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder/conduct disorders/impulsivity which are risk factors for childhood suicide in psychological autopsies. It concludes that these data heighten the already increased caution about prescribing antipsychotics to children and adolescents. It notes that concerns about excess deaths are likely to increase because the prevalence of some disorders for which antipsychotics are prescribed off-label and the number of prescriptions for indicated and off-label use in US are rising.