Forbes: Parents of color more hesitant to choose medication to treat child's anxiety disorder
Forbes recently highlighted University of Cincinnati research examining factors behind the decision to begin or decline medication treatment for childhood anxiety disorders after cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) did not lead to improvement.
Led by Jeffrey Mills, PhD, and Jeffrey Strawn, MD, the analysis of data of nearly 500 children and adolescents found only about 10% of patients that didn't get fully better with CBT elected to begin taking medication, even though medication and CBT are both proven evidence-based treatments.
Patients from racial and ethnic minorities were three times less likely to begin medication treatment compared to white patients, and younger patients were also significantly less likely to begin medication.
“We were able to leverage more recently developed statistical methods to better model the relationship between medication uptake and patient characteristics,” said Mills, PhD, professor of economics in UC’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business. “This allowed us to identify which of these potential predictors were important in driving a patient’s decision of whether or not to begin medication treatment.”
Featured photo at top of Strawn, left, and Mills, right reviewing data. Photo/University of Cincinnati.
Related Stories
Recent advances may speed time to endometriosis diagnosis
March 16, 2026
The average time to clinical diagnosis of endometriosis is nine years. Definitive diagnosis of the disease is difficult, and until recently, has relied on laparoscopic surgery. Now, as Medscape recently reported, novel clinical recommendations, advanced diagnostic tools and research into inflammation and immune responses, are bringing promise that women with endometriosis will find relief sooner and without surgery, according to experts, including Katie Burns, PhD, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine associate professor.
Position-specific helmets may not improve protection
March 16, 2026
Local 12 highlighted a new study by biomedical engineering researchers that looked at how well new football helmets protected players from impacts that can cause concussions.
UC biologist talks about 'pearmageddon'
March 16, 2026
WLWT talks to UC biologist and Department Head Theresa Culley about invasive, nonnative Callery pear trees that are spreading across Ohio forests after they were introduced by landscapers more than 50 years ago.