Tennessee Children on Psychotropic Drugs, 2013 – 2021
In June 2023, CCHR requested records from TennCare:
Please provide the following information regarding the use of psychotropic medications (antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-anxiety drugs, stimulants, and mood stabilizers—if needed, attached is a grid showing the 11-digit NDCs for all of these drugs) by children under Medicaid for each year from 2013 through 2021, broken down by year…
While numbers have been improving, it is still alarming that over 94,000 Tennessee kids are on these drugs, including over 11,000 babies, infants, toddlers and preschool-age children on psychotropic drugs.
Download the spreadsheet from TennCare.
Tennessee Children on Psychotropic Medications
| DRUG_CLASS | AGE_SPAN | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Psychotropic Drugs | 00 - 05 | 19,566 | 17,180 | 18,108 | 18,145 | 18,511 | 16,143 | 15,097 | 11,982 | 11,453 |
| All Psychotropic Drugs | 06 - 12 | 57,133 | 55,190 | 58,797 | 60,469 | 59,507 | 56,153 | 53,887 | 45,897 | 44,017 |
| All Psychotropic Drugs | 13 - 17 | 40,805 | 41,315 | 44,981 | 47,570 | 46,378 | 45,569 | 45,298 | 42,003 | 43,936 |
| All Psychotropic Drugs | 00 - 17 | 111,402 | 107,630 | 115,777 | 119,878 | 118,363 | 111,855 | 108,362 | 94,544 | 94,058 |
| ANTIDEPRESSANTS | 00 - 05 | 485 | 480 | 439 | 404 | 379 | 386 | 347 | 335 | 338 |
| ANTIDEPRESSANTS | 06 - 12 | 7,264 | 7,437 | 8,069 | 8,471 | 8,764 | 8,976 | 9,241 | 9,117 | 9,346 |
| ANTIDEPRESSANTS | 13 - 17 | 12,055 | 12,921 | 14,698 | 16,834 | 17,400 | 18,456 | 19,375 | 19,677 | 21,750 |
| ANTIDEPRESSANTS | 00 - 17 | 19,015 | 19,964 | 22,323 | 24,669 | 25,503 | 26,734 | 27,760 | 27,873 | 30,103 |
| ANTIPSYCHOTICS | 00 - 05 | 4,731 | 3,520 | 4,138 | 3,964 | 4,471 | 3,480 | 3,127 | 1,369 | 653 |
| ANTIPSYCHOTICS | 06 - 12 | 18,573 | 16,056 | 17,327 | 17,048 | 16,151 | 13,727 | 13,157 | 8,152 | 6,357 |
| ANTIPSYCHOTICS | 13 - 17 | 20,448 | 20,193 | 21,118 | 21,284 | 19,444 | 17,060 | 16,039 | 12,180 | 11,511 |
| ANTIPSYCHOTICS | 00 - 17 | 42,687 | 38,825 | 41,679 | 41,438 | 39,224 | 33,520 | 31,558 | 21,034 | 17,921 |
| ANTI_ANXIETY | 00 - 05 | 10,369 | 9,507 | 9,822 | 10,183 | 10,281 | 8,854 | 8,272 | 7,019 | 7,289 |
| ANTI_ANXIETY | 06 - 12 | 8,289 | 8,097 | 10,309 | 10,681 | 10,453 | 9,558 | 9,951 | 8,849 | 9,189 |
| ANTI_ANXIETY | 13 - 17 | 5,477 | 5,336 | 7,797 | 8,470 | 8,690 | 9,075 | 9,564 | 9,611 | 10,780 |
| ANTI_ANXIETY | 00 - 17 | 23,756 | 22,516 | 27,426 | 28,814 | 28,909 | 26,974 | 27,234 | 24,950 | 26,644 |
| MIXED_DRUGS | 00 - 05 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MIXED_DRUGS | 06 - 12 | 43 | 42 | 31 | 19 | 22 | 23 | 18 | 2 | 0 |
| MIXED_DRUGS | 13 - 17 | 25 | 31 | 27 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 2 |
| MIXED_DRUGS | 00 - 17 | 70 | 74 | 57 | 41 | 36 | 35 | 31 | 5 | 2 |
| MOOD_STABILIZERS | 00 - 05 | 1,596 | 1,610 | 1,729 | 1,767 | 1,794 | 1,768 | 1,725 | 1,659 | 1,671 |
| MOOD_STABILIZERS | 06 - 12 | 4,908 | 4,846 | 4,867 | 5,000 | 5,030 | 4,902 | 4,880 | 4,615 | 4,301 |
| MOOD_STABILIZERS | 13 - 17 | 5,941 | 6,156 | 6,204 | 6,312 | 6,323 | 6,214 | 6,205 | 5,876 | 5,877 |
| MOOD_STABILIZERS | 00 - 17 | 11,744 | 11,845 | 12,076 | 12,365 | 12,424 | 12,210 | 12,107 | 11,450 | 11,137 |
| STIMULANTS | 00 - 05 | 4,996 | 4,510 | 4,464 | 4,344 | 4,195 | 4,029 | 3,802 | 3,520 | 3,335 |
| STIMULANTS | 06 - 12 | 37,344 | 37,432 | 38,766 | 40,281 | 39,778 | 38,911 | 36,636 | 32,568 | 31,209 |
| STIMULANTS | 13 - 17 | 17,956 | 18,321 | 19,668 | 20,680 | 20,310 | 20,578 | 20,047 | 18,380 | 18,654 |
| STIMULANTS | 00 - 17 | 55,544 | 55,547 | 58,148 | 60,404 | 59,727 | 58,881 | 56,107 | 50,674 | 49,541 |