Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
REVIEWMisuse and Diversion of Stimulants Prescribed for ADHD: A Systematic Review of the Literature
Section snippets
METHOD
We conducted a systematic literature search of all of the available studies looking at patterns of misuse and diversion of prescription ADHD medications. We searched journal articles through PubMed at the National Library of Medicine using misuse, diversion, stimulants, illicit use, and ADHD medications as key words and searched from 1995 to 2006. These data were supplemented with data from one presentation at a national scientific meeting, obtained outside the systematic literature search
RESULTS
In all, using our search parameters, we identified 21 studies including 113,145 study participants. Nineteen studies were survey studies, one study was by direct structured interviews of the subjects, one study included data collected using survey and direct interviews, and one study was a chart review. Studies included participants from elementary, junior, or senior high school students (n = 4), college students (n = 12), or mixed age groups (n = 6). Ascertainment of studies was from school or
DISCUSSION
The results of our systematic evaluation of the literature appears to suggest that despite the well-documented safety profile of the stimulants used in the treatment of ADHD,10, 11 consistent evidence of misuse of stimulants in older adolescent and college-age students with and without ADHD exists.20, 23, 25, 26, 29, 36, 37, 44, 45, 46 Minimal literature exists on the diversion of medication from those with ADHD to others.23, 36 There is a higher risk for stimulant misuse and diversion in
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2023, Research in Social and Administrative PharmacyMethylphenidate cross-sensitization with amphetamine is dose dependent but not age dependent
2023, Behavioural Brain ResearchExploring the use of cognitive enhancement substances among Portuguese university students
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This study was funded by grants fromthe National Institute of Drug AbuseU10 DA15831 and U10 DA13046, (Dr. Roger Weiss, PI); R01 DA012945 and K24 DA016264 (Dr. Timothy Wilens, PI).
Disclosure: Dr. Wilens has received research support from, has been a speaker for and served on the advisory boards of Abbott, Ortho-McNeil, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Neurosearch, Novartis, Pfizer, and Shire. Dr. Adler receives and has received research support from, is and has been a speaker for, or is and has been on the advisory boards of Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cephalon, Cortex, Eli Lilly, National Institute of Drug Abuse, Neurosearch, Novartis, McNeil/J & J, Merck, Organon, Pfizer, and Shire. The other authors report no conflicts of interest.