Anxiety: Drugs

(asked on 14th June 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children in England were prescribed anti-anxiety medicine in each of the previous five years.


Answered by
Lord Kamall Portrait
Lord Kamall
This question was answered on 21st June 2022

The following table shows the number of unique patients under the age of 18 years old prescribed anti-anxiety medication on a National Health Service prescription in England and dispensed in the community in each of the last five years, including the most recent data available.

2017/18

77,696

2018/19

85,547

2019/20

96,756

2020/21

106,558

2021/22

122,181

Notes:

1. The list of anti-anxiety medicine identified is based on British National Formulary (BNF) chapter 04 - section 01 hypnotics and anxiolytics using the classification system prior to BNF edition 70.

2. It should be noted that some of these drugs have multiple indications associated with different dosing regimens and it will be for the clinician to decide what is relevant for their patient. In addition, there may be medicines not listed in this section of BNF which clinicians may prescribe for their patient to alleviate anxiety.

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