New Rx for Schedule-II Stimulants for ADHD Increased During Pandemic

No significant changes seen in new prescriptions for antidepressants, benzodiazepines, or buprenorphine for opioid use disorder

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 17, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Incident use of common behavioral health medications remained relatively stable during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the exception of those for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a study published online Jan. 10 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Grace Chai, Pharm.D., M.P.H., from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Silver Spring, Maryland, and colleagues assessed changes in incident prescriptions dispensed for five drug classes commonly used to treat depression, anxiety, ADHD, and opioid use disorder (OUD) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis included data from IQVIA National Prescription Audit on incident prescriptions from April 2018 to March 2022.

The researchers found that incident prescriptions increased from roughly 51.5 million before the COVID-19 pandemic to about 54.0 million during the pandemic. Nurse practitioners showed the largest unadjusted percentage increase in incident prescriptions across all drug classes, ranging from 7 percent for benzodiazepines to 78 percent for buprenorphine medication for OUD. The largest increases by patient characteristics were for schedule-II stimulants and nonstimulant ADHD drugs among patients aged 20 to 39 years (30 and 81 percent, respectively) and female patients (25 and 59 percent, respectively). Incident prescriptions for antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and buprenorphine for OUD did not significantly change.

“Additional research is needed to differentiate increases due to unmet need versus overprescribing, highlighting the need for further ADHD guideline development to define treatment appropriateness,” the authors write.