Why ADHD Drug Overdoses Are Rising Among U.S. Children

The opioid crisis in the US can be understood as the biggest public health story in the past few years. However, the possibility of overdosing and its effects are not limited to analgesics - as new research suggests, this study shows a significant increase in hospitalization and overdose associated with ADHD medication.

Researchers looked at data from the US Toxic Management Center between 2000 and 2014. During this period, more than 156,000 reported cases were associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder, drug exposure (eg popular brands such as Adderall, Ritalin and Vyvanse) . Between 2011 and 2014, the incidents incidence increased sharply by nearly 72% if the abuse or abuse of a fatal treatment option was exposed between 2000 and 2011.

It can not be denied that many of these exposures (about 42%) are due to simple drug errors (although this is reasonable from a public safety point of view). However, according to this study, attempted suicide and abuse of ADHD accounted for more than half of all 13-19 age bombings, and quarter of all bombs were for children under 12 years of age. More than 9,300 of these incidents require treatment and several children die

"The increase in the number and percentage of ADHD drug exposure reported during the study is consistent with the increasing trend in ADHD diagnosis and drug prescriptions Exposure related to suspected suicide or substance abuse and / It is written "I am particularly concerned." Author

In fact, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), ADHD diagnosis has skyrocketed in the past few decades. As of 2016, about 1 million children from 2 years old to 17 years old have been diagnosed with this disease and steadily increasing between 2000 and 2012. Some of the reasons may be better screening and diagnosis of behavior affecting millions of Americans. Children (and adults)

However, cautions are needed especially when dispensing and monitoring poisoning medicines.

"The difficult part is that ADHD is like depression like autism, like schizophrenia, is a symptom-based mental disorder," said Berkeley psychologist and expert ADHD expert Stephen Hinshaw He accepts American psychology. In an interview with the laboratory said. "There is no blood test or brain scan, but it's okay, although ADHD is a true condition, I think that it is the cause of hypertension and autism, which is always a little arbitrary, indeed who is cutting Because who we are, we do not know exactly where to cut. "

ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed child behavioral disorder in the United States, and for children under the age of 18 there are at least 4.5 million diagnoses. In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the prevalence of ADHD in children between the ages of 4 and 17 was 11%. These findings represent a significant increase over 30 years ago that the incidence of ADHD was estimated to be between 3% and 5%. More worrisome is that the prevalence of ADHD has increased by about 35% from 2003 to 2011.

In the 1980s, one of 20 American children was diagnosed with ADHD. Today, this number is about 1 out of 9. This somewhat dramatic diagnosis has been asked by many media, research community and the general public "why attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is rising". Recent studies were published in the 1980's for each of 20 American children. One person is diagnosed with ADHD. Today, this number is about 1 out of 9. This somewhat dramatic diagnosis is asking many media, research community, and the general public "Why attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is increasing?" Meredith Bergey believes that five factors contribute to the global expansion of ADHD.

Let's first look at overdiagnosis. In a study published in the 2010 Journal of Health Economics, we found that the youngest child in the US kindergarten (baby born in August) was diagnosed with ADHD and the probability of being diagnosed with ADHD was 40% higher . The probability is twice that of the oldest kindergarten student. A person born in September. Similar results were obtained in studies published at the Canadian Medical Association of the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association for children aged 6 to 12 years. Briefly, this often means that the diagnostic person does not differ between normal developing prematurity and ADHD. According to his writer, according to his statistics, this error can occupy 20% of current US ADHD diagnosis, or about 900,000 children.