This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Poison control centers see increase in pediatric ADHD medication exposures
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
There was an increase of more than 70% in the overall rate of exposures related to ADHD medication reported to U.S. poison control centers between 2000 and 2011, according to recently published study results in Pediatrics.
“In 2015, U.S. poison control centers (PCCs) received more than 25,800 calls involving exposures to amphetamine and methylphenidate, which are two medications used in the treatment of ADHD,” Samantha A. King, BS, BA, of the Center for Injury Research and Policy, the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and the College of Medicine, the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, and colleagues wrote. “The number of emergency department visits involving ADHD stimulant medication exposure among individuals of all ages increased 134% from 2005 to 2010.”
“Researchers of a 2013 study estimated that the annual cost of U.S. hospital admissions because of unintentional ADHD medication exposures is as much as $24 million,” the researchers continued.
King and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of the National Poison System data from 2000 to 2014 to determine exposures of ADHD medication in children and adolescents aged 0 to 19 years.
U.S. PCCS reported 156,365 exposures related to ADHD medications between 2004 and 2014. Between 2000 and 2010, there was an increase in overall rate of reported exposure of 71.2%. However, between 2011 and 2014, there was a 6.2% decrease, which the researchers considered nonsignificant.
ADHD medication exposures reported annually to PCCs in the United States averaged 10,400 among children and adolescents aged younger than 20 years, which included 7,018 in 2000 and 12,351 in 2011.
Children aged 12 years and younger were involved in 76% of the exposures. Exposures included methylphenidate (46.2%) and amphetamine medications (44.5%).
Therapeutic error was reported as the most common reason for exposure. About half of the exposures in the adolescent cohort (aged 13-19 years) were reported to be intentional medication exposures. Suspected suicide, or medication abuse or misuse were included in this category.
More than half of those studied (60.4%) did not receive treatment at a health care facility, whereas 24.6% were treated or evaluated and released, 6.2% were admitted to a hospital and 1.8% were admitted to a psychiatric care facility. Three deaths were reported.
The researchers noted that the FDA had issued public health advisories about ADHD medications during the study period, but it was not clear if they influenced the trends. Early in the study period, there was an increase in the rate of reported exposures in all U.S. regions. The Northeast region was the only region not to report a decrease later.
“Overall, the number and rate of ADHD medication exposures increased significantly during the study period, although there were two periods of slight decline, most recently from 2011 to 2014,” the researchers concluded. “Strategies to prevent these exposures include education of parents, caregivers and adolescents; safe storage of medications; use of unit-dose packaging; and increased use of nonpharmacologic interventions for ADHD.” – by Bruce Thiel
Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial conflicts of interest.
Collapse
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts