More women are using ADHD meds than ever before, and it continues to rise, according to recent information from gained from the records of health insurance companies. The use of drugs had increased by as much as 150 percent in women from 2001 to 2010. This trend is surprising, considering that more boys are affected with ADHD than girls in the United States. One contributing factor is that five medications are approved for use to the condition during the same period.
Though ADHD still affects more boys than girls, the former tend to exhibit more hyperactivity than the latter and therefore it’s the boys that tend to be noticed and medicated. Plus ADHD among girls is often unrecognized until adulthood, when attention problems became more prominent; inability to hold jobs, losing track of appointments and misplacing important documents – problems which are common in work and during parenthood. In some cases, the diagnosis only becomes to light when her child becomes diagnosed with the disorder.
The data also yielded that although more women are being treated for the disorder, a lot still don’t get enough treatment. Treatments for ADHD include medications alone or combined with psychotherapy. It is estimated that more than 4.7 million Americans have the disorder, with some continues to have ADHD until adulthood.
Filed under Attention Deficit Disorders, Mental Illness by on Nov 25th, 2011. Comment. 
The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued an updated set of guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of the controversial attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. And this time, it will include younger toddlers, preschool children and adolescents. This is the first time in a decade that the rules for the condition were updated.
The original guidelines, which is released in 2001, were only available to children aged 6 to 12 due to the available evidence during that time. Because of numerous reports and mounting evidence about ADHD symptoms among preschool children and adolescents, the rules were updated to cover those categories.
Key points in the guidelines includes assessing children for presence of other conditions that might coexist with ADHD, obtaining information primarily from people who were involved in child’s care and use of FDA prescribed medication with consent to adolescents. Clinicians are urged to use evidence-based therapy and consider using parent- or teacher-administered behavior therapy to toddlers. In addition, medications should be carefully titrated to achieve maximum benefit with the least undesirable effects.
Important factors that prompted an update in the guidelines includes rapid changing lifestyle of people and the fact that most medical facilities today are understaffed and overburdened with large numbers of patients. Therefore practitioners should be careful in diagnosing ADHD based on clinical judgment alone.
Today, things that demand sustained attention like TV, gaming devices and computers are rapidly increasing. That might cause increased reports of ADHD in children, experts warn, because today’s kids are expected not just to finish college but to have lots of activities too.
In addition, drugs approved for treatment of ADHD has increased for the past ten years. This is due to the view of clinicians that ADHD is a chronic condition, and therefore it requires long-term treatment. It is also recently known that treating the behavioral condition at an early age increases chances of treatment, so the child can perform well at school.
The guidelines are available online in the October issue of Pediatrics.
Read more on Time for a Change: New ADHD Guidelines Reformulated to Include Older Children…
Filed under Attention Deficit Disorders, Mental Illness by on Oct 23rd, 2011. Comment.
Are your kids somewhat hyper or having bouts of sadness today? Someone’s cigarette smoke might be triggering it. Researchers from National Institutes of Health have uncovered a link between second-hand smoke and mental problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression in children and adolescents.
Second hand smoke, which is considered more harmful than first-hand smoke, is linked to cause respiratory problems, breathing abnormalities in infants, middle-ear infections and lung infection in numerous studies. But this is the first time that it is linked to mental problems among pediatric individuals. The study examined 2,901 multiracial individuals who are aged 8 to 15.
The culprit is thought to be Cotinine, a metabolite of the main addicting substance in tobacco product which is nicotine. Researchers found out that those youths with higher blood levels of cotinine have almost five symptoms of depressive disorder, more than three symptoms of ADHD and more than two symptoms of generalized anxiety on the average.
After looking the participants’ health history, it was found that there is strong evidence that Cotinine levels is related to onset of ADHD, depression and conduct and anxiety symptoms. Still, effects on boys are greater compared to girls. Among races, whites appear most vulnerable in comparison among blacks and Mexican Americans.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 15 billion cigarettes are smoked worldwide every day. In the United States, 451 billion cigarettes are consumed per year.
Read more on CanTobacco Smoke Trigger Mental Problems in Kids?…
Filed under Attention Deficit Disorders, Drug Abuse, Major Depression, Mental Illness by on Oct 13th, 2011. Comment.
According to the study conducted by National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), use of prescription stimulants for ADHD has risen slowly but steadily from 1996 to 2008. This trend is surprising, as use of stimulants for the condition has been controversial for years.
Researchers said that when rate of prevalence of ADHD is compared with use of such medications, it appears that many children with ADHD are not using stimulants. Researchers noted that those with severe symptoms are more likely to be taking stimulants, while those who have mild symptoms are likely to be treated with psychosocial therapies which do not involve stimulant use.
According to the data, prescribed stimulant use increased significantly during the 1990’s, peaking in 2002 where it hovered at 2.9 percent. Recent reports show that figures continues to rise, and in 2007, around 9.5 percent of children aged 4-17 years with ADHD are using prescribed stimulants.
“Stimulant medications work well to control ADHD symptoms, but they are only one method of treatment for the condition. Experts estimate that about 60 percent of children with ADHD are treated with medication,” said Benedetto Vitiello, M.D of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) who is also the co-author of the study.
Most users of prescribed stimulants are aged 6-12 years old, but the fastest growth occurred among those who are aged 13-18 years old. “This continuous increase among teens likely reflects a recent realization that ADHD often persists as children age. They do not always grow out their symptoms,” said Dr. Vitellio.
The data shows that boys are still more likely to be prescribed with stimulants than girls, and whites more than blacks or Hispanics. But still, prescribed stimulant use is increasing among racial and ethnic minorities.
ADHD is a developmental disorder characterized by attentional problems and hyperactivity. It is becoming more common among children, affecting 3 to 5 percent globally. In addition, significant number of children continues to have the condition as adults.
Read more on Use of Stimulants for ADHD Growing Steady through the Years: Report…
Filed under Attention Deficit Disorders, Mental Illness by on Oct 1st, 2011. 1 Comment.
