Association Between Neighborhood Context and Psychotropic Polypharmacy Use Among High-Need Children.

Objective: The authors explored whether neighborhood context is associated with psychotropic polypharmacy and psychotherapy among a cohort of children with high needs for psychiatric and general medical care.

Methods: Electronic health record data from a large health care system were used in a cross-sectional design to examine psychotropic polypharmacy and psychotherapy in 2015-2019 among children ages 2-17 years (N=4,017) with geocoded addresses. Inclusion criteria were a diagnosis of a mental health condition, an intellectual and developmental disability, or a complex medical condition and one or more clinical encounters annually over the study period.