An analysis of U.S prescription use released last week revealed that the parents of children who are taking medication for Attention Deficiency Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are 10 times more likely to be users of a similar prescription themselves.
In the year 2005 prescription claims of over 107000 children and their parents were studied by researchers, from the prescription manager Medco Health solutions Inc which revealed that in almost 60% of cases both child and parent were on an ADHD prescription. Also in most cases the children were prescribed the medication prior to the parents.The study conducted also looked into the correlation of the use of ADHD among twins. It was noted that if an ADHD medication was used in a twin the likelihood of the other needing the same is considerably higher than another sibling.
Impulsiveness, hyperactivity and inattention are the hallmark symptoms of ADHD. Studies have shown that its prevalent more among boys than girls. Regarding ADHD in adults, Robert Epstein, chief medical officer at Medco is of the opinion that women are also just as prone to need clinical help as men.
However unlike children adults needing medication do not exhibit as much hyperactivity. They are more prone to inattentiveness. Adelaide Robb, a child psychiatrist at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C confirms the aforesaid finding.
Source-Eurekalert
SRM
