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06/12/2023 - 09:07

Early medication discontinuation prevalent in ADHD treatment among young adults

Early medication discontinuation prevalent in ADHD treatment among young adults - Available at University of Iceland

The results of a new study, which comprised over 1.2 million individuals from nine countries across  the world indicate that early medication discontinuation is prevalent in ADHD treatment, particularly among young adults.  An article on the study was published in the scientific journal The Lancet Psychiatry last week and among the authors are two research scientists at the University of Iceland Centre of Public Health Sciences. 

The study was carried out as a part of the TIMESPAN project, a collaborative project of clinicians and scientists in ten countries that has the goal of advancing the management of chronic cardiometabolic disease and treatment discontinuity in adult ADHD patients.  The project is funded by an EU Horizon 2020 grant and an Australia Government -EU Collaborative project grant.

This study in The Lancet Psychiatry highlights the scope of medication treatment discontinuation and persistence in ADHD across the lifespan. The research thus provides new knowledge about long-term ADHD medication use.

In the present study, population-based data on 1 229 972 individuals from Iceland, Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and the USA were used to identify individuals 3 years and older who had initiated ADHD medication between 2010 and 2020. Treatment discontinuation and persistence in the 5 years after treatment initiation was analyzed, stratified by age (children [age 4–11 years], adolescents [age 12–17 years], young adults [age 18–24 years], and adults [age ≥25 years]) and sex.  

Across countries, treatment discontinuation 1–5 years after initiation was lowest in children, and highest in young adults and adolescents.  Within 1 year of initiation, 65% of children, 47% of adolescents, 39% of young adults, and 48% of adults remained on treatment. The proportion of patients discontinuing was highest between age 18 and 19 years. Treatment persistence for up to 5 years was higher across countries when accounting for reinitiation of medication; at 5 years of follow-up, 50–60% of children and 30–40% of adolescents and adults were covered by treatment in most countries. Patterns were similar across sex.

The results show that early medication discontinuation is prevalent in ADHD treatment, particularly among young adults. Although reinitiation of medication is common, treatment persistence in adolescents and young adults is lower than expected based on previous estimates of ADHD symptom persistence in these age groups.  

An interdisciplinary group of research scientists is involved in the project, including Helga Zoega,Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of Iceland and at UNSW Sydney, and Unnur Jakobsdóttir Smári, doctoral student in the same subject.

The scientific article can be located on The Lancet Psychiatry website.

An interdisciplinary group of research scientists is involved in the project, including Helga Zoega,Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of Iceland and at UNSW Sydney, and Unnur Jakobsdóttir Smári, doctoral student in the same subject.