• First-generation antipsychotics include chlorpromazine, droperidol, flupenthixol, fluphenazine, haloperidol, mesoridazine, perhpenazine, pimozide, prochlorperazine, promethazine, thioridazine, thiothixene, trifluoperazine, and zuclopenthixol
• Second-generation antipsychotics include aripiprazole, clozapine, olanzapine, paliperidone, quetiapine, risperidone, and ziprasidone .
• Chlorpromazine, loxapine and methotrimeprazine were the three most prescribed first-generation antipsychotics to youth in B.C. in 2010-11. Health Canada’s drug product database shows the label recommends chlorpromazine for schizophrenia and mania or bi-polar disorder in adults.
• Risperidone, quetiapine and olanzapine were the three second-generation antipsychotics most prescribed to youth in B.C. in 2010-11. Health Canada’s drug product database says these three drugs are also used for schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder in adults.
• In 2010-11, the most common diagnosis associated with an antipsychotics prescription in children up to age 5 was hyperkinetic syndrome (overactive restlessness or hyperactivity, for example).
• First-time prescriptions of antipsychotics for youth by family doctors fell in 2011 while first-time prescriptions for youth by psychiatrists and pediatricians increased.
For more information on second-generation antipsychotics and their side effects, see keltymentalhealth.ca