Anticholinergic use in children and adolescents after initiation of antipsychotic therapy.

Background: Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are thought to have a lower likelihood of inducing extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) than are first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs). Clinical observations suggest that younger patients may be more sensitive to SGA-associated EPS than are adults and require therapy with anticholinergic agents.

Objective: To determine the proportion of patients 5-18 years of age who received anticholinergic therapy during the initial stages of antipsychotic treatment, as well as to compare anticholinergic utilization across patients receiving aripiprazole, risperidone, and quetiapine, SGAs previously identified as the most commonly prescribed at the academic institution studied.