Review of calls to an Australian teratogen information service regarding psychotropic medications over a 12-year period

Abstract

Background: Telephone counselling services are increasingly utilised by consumers to obtain contemporary and confidential information about perinatal drug and toxin exposure. The use of such services in regard to psychotropic agents is unknown.

Aim: To determine the frequency and types of calls to a New South Wales (NSW)-based telephone counselling service regarding perinatal psychotropic agent exposure between 2000 and 2011.

Methods: Retrospective analyses of MotherSafe call data between two epochs: I (2000-2005, n = 46,277) and II (2006-2011, n = 118,587), total 164,864 calls.

Results: 25,698 (15.6%) calls were made about psychotropic agents: 16,218 (9.8%) about antidepressants, 3,145 calls (1.9%) about mood stabilisers/antiepileptic agents, 2,878 (1.7%) about benzodiazepines and 3,457 (2.1%) about antipsychotic drugs. Calls regarding psychotropic agents doubled in epoch II (18,231 vs 7,467, epoch I) but decreased as a proportion of total calls (I: 16.1% vs II: 15.4%, P < 0.001). Selective serotonin inhibitors (SSRIs) were the most common drugs of concern (>44% of total psychotropic calls). The proportion of calls regarding particular agents changed significantly between epochs, for example paroxetine (epoch I: 14.8% vs epoch II: 6.7% of all antidepressant calls, P < 0.001) and quetiapine (epoch 1: 10.6% vs epoch II: 34.7% of all antipsychotic calls (P < 0.001). Calls from rural areas of NSW increased from 22.6 to 24.7% (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: Consumer demand for information about the use of psychotropic agents for women of child-bearing age has increased considerably over the last decade, particularly in rural areas of Australia. This indicates a need to review current existing services, particularly for rural consumers.

Keywords: antidepressants; antipsychotics; perinatal; telephone counselling service.