After several studies have cast doubt on the safety of antidepressants for children, many parents and doctors are wary about putting kids on the drugs. Now data from Medco Health Solutions, a company that manages pharmaceutical benefits for employers and healthcare organizations, show that the number of patients taking the drugs fell from 2003 to 2004.

What the researchers wanted to know: How has antidepressant use by children changed as controversy has grown?

What they did: Medco analyzed data on prescriptions filled for a class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs—the drugs that have been getting so much attention lately. Since the number of patients the company handles is constantly changing, they looked at the proportion of kids who were taking SSRIs, not the raw numbers. For these purposes, a kid is anyone under 18.

What they found: From 2003 to 2004, there was a 10 percent decrease in the proportion of children on antidepressants in the SSRI class. The effect was even more dramatic for certain quarters; for example, 0.84 percent of kids filled prescriptions for SSRIs in the last quarter of 2003, which fell to 0.71 percent in the last quarter of 2004. Those aren't very large percentages, but considering Medco handles about 10 million kids, it's still a fair number of people.

What the study means to you: Doctors and parents do appear to be paying attention to the many warnings about SSRIs, which may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts. It's not clear, however, whether the drop in prescriptions is good or bad for kids. If SSRIs really do increase the risk of suicide, then the drop in prescriptions may prevent some suicides. On the other hand, it may be keeping some kids from getting the medical help that they need.

Caveats: This is only for the patients handled by one pharmacy benefit manager—this trend isn't necessarily true for everyone. On the other hand, Medco is a very large pharmacy benefit manager. Also, this study has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Find out more: Is a combo of pills and talking the best remedy for depression? Read Teens, drugs, and sadness, by Nancy Shute, U.S. News & World Report.

The Food and Drug Administration's Oct. 15, 2004, advisory about antidepressants, suicide, children, and teens