1. Effectiveness of Psychotropic Medications in Children with Prenatal Alcohol and Drug Exposures: A Case Series and Model of Care.
- Author
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Ritfeld GJ, Kable JA, Holton JE, and Coles CD
- Subjects
- Humans, Female, Child, Pregnancy, Male, Adolescent, Comorbidity, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders drug therapy, Psychotropic Drugs therapeutic use, Psychotropic Drugs adverse effects, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity drug therapy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
- Abstract
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders affect up to 5% of the population, with additional children affected by prenatal drug exposures. The majority of these children display symptoms of ADHD and poor emotional dysregulation, a common reason for seeking psychiatric care. However, high prevalence of comorbid look-alike symptoms and limited availability of evidence-based treatments complicates psychiatric decision making in this population. The goal of the current study is to report on the effectiveness of psychotropic medications in a case series of 16 individuals with prenatal alcohol/drug exposure and propose a model for psychiatric care for this population. In addition to traditional subjective reports, an objective continuous performance test (T.O.V.A.®) was used to aid with guiding treatment. We found that T.O.V.A.®-scores improved on average from - 6.5 to - 2.9 with our psychiatric approach (p = 0.03). T.O.V.A.®-measurements were helpful in differentiating ADHD symptoms from comorbid symptoms and to guide decision-making on starting and changing medications., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)
- Published
- 2024
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