Loading...
Clinicians are concerned about potential relationships between medications prescribed for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and subsequent substance use. To learn more, researchers performed a series of analyses on a large U.S. insurance-claims database between 2005 and 2014.
Almost 3 million patients aged ≥13 (47% female) who were diagnosed with ADHD or who received stimulant medications or atomoxetine were studied. Approximately 75% of males and 79% of females received stimulants only.
Overall, male and female ADHD enrollees were more likely than undiagnosed controls to have at least one substance-related event (i.e., an emergency-department claim with a substance-use diagnosis; males, 3.2% vs. 1.2%; females, 2.6% vs. 0.8%). A…