Browse > Home / Drug News / Abuse of ADHD Drugs on the Rise

Abuse of ADHD Drugs on the Rise

August 25, 2009

Abuse of ADHD Drugs on the Rise

Jump in poison control center calls mirrors increasing prescriptions, study shows

That’s the conclusion of fresh research in the September issue of Pediatrics that lay the foundation of the rate of ADHD medication abuse was up 76 percent from 1998 to 2005, and at the same vacant time, the rates of prescriptions on this account that these medications rose through 80 percent.

“We looked at total the poison control centers thwart the nation and ground a weighty increase in the number of calls for ADHD medication revile that parallels the whole of prescriptions being written,” related Dr. Jennifer Setlik, an emergency physician at Cincinnati Children’session Hospital Medical Center in Ohio and a cogitate original.

What’sitting more, Setlik said, is that this weigh is “not an estimate of the gross amount puzzle” because it looks only at data from poison control centers, but it gives doctors and parents a snapshot of the trend with respect to rising abuse of these medications with increasing availability.

ADHD affects between 8 percent and 12 percent of children, and as many as 4 percent of adults worldwide, according to background knowledge in the study. The disorder is commonly treated with stimulant medications, which hold a seemingly paradoxical efficiency on people with ADHD, allowing them to concentrate and function more effectively. The drugs most often prescribed are mixed amphetamine salts (Adderall) and methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta), according to the study.

The study also reports that nearest to marijuana, prescription medications are the most common drugs that teenagers employment to get high. This may have existence because teens believe these medications are safe because they’ve been prescribed by a physician, or simply for the reason that of their availability.

To assess whether increased availability of ADHD medications would also cause a rise in the number of teens abusing the drugs, Setlik and her colleagues reviewed data from the National Poison Data System, which includes information from poison control centers across the United States.

The researchers looked for cases of intentional abuse or misuse of ADHD medications in youths 13 to 19 years old from 1998 through 2005.

They found that over the eight-year meditate period, the number of calls to poison rule centers regarding ADHD medication use went up 76 percent, from 330 calls during the first year to 581 calls the in conclusion year.

At the similar time, overall ADHD prescriptions increased by the agency of 80 percent for all children and teens, and not far from 86 percent for kids between 10 and 19 years old.

The facts didn’familiarily include information relating to whether a teen abusing an ADHD medication was the one who had been prescribed the drug or whether the abuser was a teen without ADHD who was taking the medications.

Parents “stand in want of to be aware of the potential for the abuse of these medications for teens that have and haven’t been prescribed them,” Setlik declared.

If a child is taking ADHD medication, she recommended keeping an look on on the sum the child is using.

Tom Hedrick, single in kind of the founding members of The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, agreed that parents need to monitor any prescription medications their children use to make sure that they’re being used in a strict signification. He also advised parents to safeguard their acknowledge prescriptions.

But which’s critical, he said, is letting your kids know that taking drugs that weren’familiarily prescribed during the term of them, or captivating more than what was prescribed is not OK.

“We be seized of to start thinking proactively in the room of reactively,” said Hedrick. “Fifty percent of kids give out never hearing a single word about custom drug abuse, but these drugs are just as dangerous, just of the same kind with addictive and just as deadly as illegitimate drugs.”

“Right since, parents may feel a sense of relief that their kids are taking medicines and not street drugs,” he said. “But what we really have is the perfect storm because there’s a lack of awareness and one tranquillity of availability.”

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse has in greater numbers on ADHD medications and practicable abuse of them.

Written by Samanta · Filed Under Drug News