Many Youth With ADHD Fail to Take Stimulants as Prescribed, Study Suggests

More than half of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may not be taking stimulant medications as prescribed, according to areport inPsychiatric Services in Advance.“These findings [underscore] the need for active efforts to better understand the problem and develop approaches to help mitigate it, especially in primary care settings,” wrote lead author Joseph Biederman, M.D., chief of the Clinical and Research Programs in Pediatric Psychopharmacology and Ad ult ADHD at Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues.The researchers analyzed prescription and sociodemographic data from the Partners Health Care Research Patient Data Registry of Massachusetts General Hospital for 2,206 patients aged 4 to 17 years who had been prescribed any of the following stimulants between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2016: amphetamine/dextroamphetamine, dextroamphetamine, dexmethylphenidate, lisdexamfetamine, or methylphenidate. The researchers included medications prescribed as a single prescription (30-day supply) and medications with prescriptions postdated by up to three months (60- or 90-day supply).The researchers defined a patient as being “adherent” if a single index prescription was followed by a second prescription within 90 days.In cases in which index prescriptions were postdated by two months (that is, two prescriptions written the same date), a patient was deemed adherent if a third prescription was filled 31 to 120 days after...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: ADHD Joseph Biederman medication adherence prescription refills Psychiatric Services stimulant medication Source Type: research