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Study: Adult
ADD prescriptions on the rise
(November
2005 Issue)
By Jennifer Chase Esposito
An analysis of four years of data, culled by Medco Health Solutions,
Inc., which manages prescription drug benefit programs, and released
Sept. 15, reveals that diagnosis and treatment of adult attention
deficit disorder (ADD) has grown much faster than that of children.
From 2000-2004, says the study, "the number of younger adults ages
20-44 using Attention- Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) medications
more than doubled," which outpaced by nearly 44 percent any increases
in pediatric patients ages 19 and younger.
The study reviewed prescription data of 2.4 million patients across
the country and also showed a jump in the number of adult women
taking prescribed AD/HD medications: among females ages 20-44, the
numbers more than doubled (a 113 percent increase). That rate was
21 percent higher than their male equals.
What is interesting about this data is the flip-flopping of findings
between adult men and women and their child boy-girl counterparts.
In 2004, use of AD/HD medications among adult women between the
ages 20-64 equaled that of men in the same age group, "a major contrast,"
says the study, "to data from the pediatric population that reveals
use of AD/HD medications is twice as high in boys as it is in girls."
"This analysis clearly shows that AD/HD is no longer just about
children," says Robert Epstein, M.D., M.S., chief medical officer
at Medco in a Sept. 15 news release from the company. "Adults are
increasingly seeking diagnosis and treatment for themselves - not
just for their kids. Although it's surprising to see this shift,
it is in line with research that shows that half the children on
medication for AD/HD will still need drug therapy as adults."
In the last month, media headlines have highlighted the-rise-in-adult
AD/HD angle of the study in a way that in the eyes of some psychologists
treating ADD and ADHD could cast a negative light. However, for
some professionals treating the disorders, the findings are positive.
"People who are well-educated about the condition I don't think
will be surprised by the study," says Theresa Cerulli, M.D., a neuropsychiatrist
and medical director of the Andover, Mass. office of Hallowell Associates,
which specializes in treating ADD, anxiety disorders and childhood
learning disabilities. However, she says, "Someone reading the study
could wrongly interpret we're over-prescribing" adults.
"I think it's exciting news," says Cerulli. "These findings mean
more awareness of adult ADD and there's hope that, in time, [the
findings] will help bring less of a stigma to the diagnosis."
Cerulli says that in the last year and a half, data shows there
were 8.2 million adult ADD sufferers in the United States and 4.8
million pediatric suffers. Of the children, 1.5 million had been
diagnosed and 1.4 had been treated.
On the adult side, she says, 0.37 percent were diagnosed, and 0.36
percent were treated. "The prescriptions, to me, show we're finally,
just starting to treat the adult population," says Cerulli. "We
didn't know until a few years ago that adult ADD existed. In the
last five to 10 years, there has been such a greater understanding
that kids do not just grow out of the disorder."
One of the jobs of a professional, says Cerulli, is the ability
to separate normal, everyday stresses in 2005 from other neurological
disorders like depression, learning disabilities (of which there's
a 20-percent overlap with adult ADD diagnoses) and sleep apnea -
things that can coincide with adult ADD. Additionally in order to
be diagnosed with adult ADD (the "ADD" is minus the "h" because
adults typically lose over time the hyperactivity found in children)
a patient must have showed symptoms dating back to before age seven,
a factor that rules out one's occasional problems of balancing work
and familial obligations as a possible diagnosis, Cerulli says.
Between neurological testing, therapy and proper medication, this
study's reporting of a jump in adult prescriptions means adults
are finding peace to problems through which they had suffered a
lifetime, with no end in sight.
"For a lot of us in the field, it's why we have picked this specialty,"
says Cerulli. With medication and therapy, "people's lives really
improve dramatically with diagnosis of how to manage their symptoms."
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