Statistics from around the globe shows that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication is prescribed to children at an alarming rate.
The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published data on March 2013 showing that 11 percent of schoolchildren in the country are diagnosed with ADHD, a 41 percent hike for the past ten years. Two-thirds of these 6.4 million children were given prescriptions for Ritalin and Adderall. This created a controversy about potential overdiagnosing and overmedicating children for ADHD.
Trends show that this issue has now gone global. In Israel, Ritalin and Concerta prescription for 2010 increased by 76 percent. In 2011, the Maccabi Healthcare Services of Israel discovered that one in five children was given stimulants even if they weren't diagnosed with ADHD.
Similarly, ADHD prescriptions increased in China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and India. From 2000-2010, ADHD-medication on a global basis rose to 26 percent a year to at most $8 billion. In the next two years, this number is predicted to reach $14 billion as sales of ADHD medications outside U.S are increasing by 200 percent, Wall Street Journal reports.
Aside from the increased pressure for children to do well at school, this trend could be contributed to the promotional campaigns launched by pharmaceutical industries. In Saudi Arabia, Janssen, the manufacturer of Concerta, is the primary sponsor of the Saudi ADHS Society's website that campaigns for ADHD awareness.
Although ADHD medications are truly effective, the increased sale on the global market shows a different side of the drugs.
The National Institute of Mental Health's Multimodal Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (MTA) research showed that the long term effects of ADHD medications are still unknown. Constant use of the drugs may alter the brain chemistry and dependence on these drugs discourages the children from participating in behavioral therapies.
Not all countries are included in this trend. In the U.K, officials are discouraging doctors from prescribing ADHD medications and if they must do so, they need to ensure that the child has tried behavioral therapy. In 2011, Israel's Ministry of Health declared the prescription of stimulants to children without an ADHD diagnosis as a crime punishable by law.
