Aripiprazole use in Children and Adolescents: A Public Hospital Child Psychiatry Outpatient Department's Experience

Abstract

Aripiprazole is a dopamine-serotonin system stabilizer and increasingly, its use is more common in children and adolescents with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and pervasive developmental disorder due to its effectiveness on different types of receptors We used aripiprazole in 41 patients with one or more of the following diagnoses in this study: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, tic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder, mental retardation. Aripiprazole 4 mg +/- 1.5 mg/day was started and titrated up to 18.5 +/- 1.5 mg/day with a mean dose of 10 mg/day. The mean Clinical Global Impression Scale score was 4.7 +/- 0.85 initially and decreased to 2.3 +/- 0.97 points at one-month follow-up. Side effects related to aripiprazole use were seen in 9 cases (21.9%). These side effects were akathisia, irritability, insomnia, lethargy and sleepiness, increase in current obsessions, increased appetite and weight gain. While 36 (87.8%) cases continued the treatment, 5 (12.2%) patients discontinued the drug treatment due to the side effects. There was no case where the drug was discontinued due to lack of response to treatment. Aripiprazole may be a reliable and efficacious choice in children and adolescents.