Prevalence and Predictors of Psychotropic Use in Children with High-Functioning ASDs

Table 1

Descriptive statistics for psychotropic medication use and link between target symptom and medication.

Medication class	𝑛	% of total sample	% of medicated subjects	% positive link between symptom and medication (𝑛)
Stimulants	29^a	25.20%	76.32%^b	100.00%  (29)
Antidepressants	12^a	10.43%	31.58%^b	58.33%  (7)
Neuroleptics	7^a	6.09%	18.42%^b	42.86%  (3)
Mood stabilizers	1^a	0.90%	2.63%^b	100.00%  (1)

Total sample size was 𝑁=115.
Total number of individuals taking a psychotropic agent 𝑛=38.
^aValues do not total 𝑛=38 due to 11 individuals taking more than one psychotropic agent.
^bValues do not total 100% due to 11 individuals taking more than one psychotropic agent.
% of total sample = percentage of the total sample taking the specific medication class.
% of medicated subjects = percentage taking the medication class from the subgroup taking any psychotropic.
% Positive link between symptom and medication = percentage of individuals taking the specific medication class whose target symptoms were consistent with the symptoms addressed by the specific psychotropic medication (value in parentheses indicates the number of individuals whose target symptoms were linked to the specific psychotropic medication).