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

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.

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. Polypharmacy was defined as two or more psychotropic drug class prescriptions concurrently for ≥60 days. Psychotherapy was defined as receipt of any psychotherapy or adaptive behavior treatment. Neighborhood context (health, environment, education, and wealth) was measured with the Child Opportunity Index. Multilevel generalized linear mixed models with random intercept for census tracts were used to assess the associations between individual and neighborhood characteristics and psychotropic polypharmacy and psychotherapy.

Moderate (vs. low) child opportunity was associated with higher odds of polypharmacy (adjusted OR [AOR]=1.79, 95% CI=1.19–2.67). High (vs. low) child opportunity was associated with higher odds of psychotherapy (AOR=2.15, 95% CI=1.43–3.21). Black (vs. White) race (AOR=0.51, 95% CI=0.37–0.71) and Hispanic ethnicity (AOR=0.44, 95% CI=0.26–0.73) were associated with lower odds of polypharmacy.

Among high-need children, neighborhood Child Opportunity Index, race, and ethnicity were significantly associated with treatment outcomes in analyses adjusted for clinical factors. The findings underscore concerns about structural disparities and systemic racism and raise questions about access.