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Study: Adult use of ADHD medicines doubles

By LINDA A. JOHNSON
AP BUSINESS WRITER

TRENTON, N.J. -- Use of prescription drugs for attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder is growing at a faster rate among adults than
children, new research shows.

Between 2000 and 2004, use of drugs that help keep ADHD patients focused
doubled among adults aged 20 to 44, but rose only 56 percent among children,
according to data compiled by Medco Health Solutions, one of the country's
largest prescription benefit managers.

Franklin Lakes-based Medco's study, to be released Thursday, shows use rose
113 percent among women 20 to 44 and 104 percent among women 45 to 64, both
far more than among men. Meanwhile, spending on the medicines quadrupled.

Experts say reasons for the surge range from better drugs and advertising,
to parents of children newly diagnosed with ADHD realizing they have the
same symptoms.

"We're seeing about 1 percent of adults being treated," but four times as
many are estimated to have ADHD, Dr. Robert Epstein, Medco's chief medical
officer, told The Associated Press.

Nearly 1.5 million Americans 20 and older are using the drugs, Medco said.

Those figures dispel earlier beliefs that children "grow out of the
disorder," said Dr. Patricia Quinn, a developmental pediatrician at the
National Center for Gender Issues and ADHD, and an adviser to Children and
Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, an advocacy group.

"We know that 50 percent of adults continue to have problems with attention
that affect their functioning," and many now are staying on medication
beyond adolescence, Quinn said.

Meanwhile, awareness of the disorder is growing among the public and
doctors.

The makers of Adderall XR and Concerta have advertised their drugs in
magazines geared to parents of kids with ADHD. And Eli Lilly & Co., which
makes Strattera, has been running television ads aimed at adults who may not
realize they have the disorder.

ADHD symptoms include impulsivity, trouble concentrating, disorganization,
procrastination and hyperactivity.

The increased medication use is good because, along with behavioral therapy,
it can improve adults' relationships, job performance, parenting skills,
even their sex lives, said Dr. Edward Hallowell, author of a new ADHD book,
"Delivered from Distraction."

"Whenever you get someone with ADHD diagnosed and treated successfully,
everyone wins," said Hallowell, who heads an ADHD center in Sudbury, Mass.

Spending on ADHD medicines has shot up with the growing popularity of new,
brand-name versions that last all day, limiting ups and downs of symptoms.
Sales skyrocketed from $759 million in 2000 to $3.1 billion in 2004,
according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information and consulting firm.

"The market could easily double," as more of the drug makers receive
regulatory approval specifically to market ADHD drugs to adults, said Albert
Rauch, pharmaceuticals analyst at A. G. Edwards & Sons.