Psychiatr News October 20, 2006
Volume 41, Number 20, page 2
© 2006 American Psychiatric Association
ADHD Prescriptions Run in Families
Jim Rosack
Multiple family members taking ADHD medications is becoming more common, as
parents and children are treated for the disorder they share.
An intriguing new analysis shows that family ties hold strong between
parent and child, especially when it comes to filling prescriptions for
stimulant medications used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD).
According to pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions Inc., parents
of children on an ADHD medication are nearly 10 times more likely to take an
ADHD drug themselves than those without a child on the medication. An analysis
by Medco reviewed prescription claims of more than 107,000 children aged 5 to
19 and their parents over 12 months in 2005. Medco is the nation's leading
pharmacy benefits manager, with 2005 total net revenues of nearly $38
billion.
Like previous studies showing the increasing use of these medications by
adults, the study found that in families with both a parent and a child who
started to take an ADHD medication during 2005, 41 percent of the time it was
the parent filling the prescription first, followed by the parent's filling
the prescription for the child.
The study also found a striking correlation between mother and child: in
households where both a parent and child began treatment for the first time in
2005, nearly 60 percent of the time it was mother and child, rather than
father and child. The average age of the parent beginning ADHD medication was
43 years, while the average age of children beginning treatment was 13
years.
Further findings showed that in families where at least one parent and one
child were concurrently taking an ADHD medication, the likelihood of a second
child taking the medication was double that of families where the parent was
not on the drug.
"Heredity has long been suggested as a cause of ADHD, but this is the
first study of significant magnitude to confirm the theory," said Robert
Epstein, M.D., Medco's chief medical officer. "These results establish a
clear link between parents and children in the use of ADHD medications and,
most surprisingly, between mother and child."
Medco also reviewed the use of ADHD medication among twins. An analysis of
the data on nearly 17,500 twin sets found that regardless of the gender of the
twins, when one twin was taking an ADHD medication, there was a 24 percent
chance that the other twin was also being treated with an ADHD drug. This was
nearly 2.5 times the probability of nontwin siblings taking the medications.
In households where one twin and a parent were on an ADHD drug, there was a 37
percent likelihood that the other twin would be on the medication as well.
"Many [psychiatrists] were originally taught that ADHD usually
resolved by late adolescence. Today, we know that at least half of the
children and adolescents with ADHD continue to have difficulties well into
adulthood," said David Fassler, M.D., a clinical professor of psychiatry
at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and an APA trustee.
"Parents of children who have had a positive response to treatment,
including treatment with medication, would be more likely to consider such
treatment for themselves or for other children with ADHD," added
Fassler, who specializes in child and adolescent psychiatry. "The
converse is also true: parents who have received treatment for ADHD are more
likely to recognize the early warning signs in their children."
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