Attention Deficit Disorder Drugs Send Patients to EDs
Abstract
More than 3,000 people end up in emergency departments each year because of adverse events linked to drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to an estimate by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was based on actual reports from a national surveillance system. More than 60 percent of those, however, ingested them accidentally, said the study's lead author. The study, reported in a letter in the May 25 New England Journal of Medicine (2006;354:2294), grew out of meetings of an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about the cardiovascular effects of such medications, said Michael Jhung, MD, MPH, a CDC medical epidemiologist and a study author. The medications they studied included methylphenidate, dexmethylphenidate, dextroamphetamine, amphetamine with dextroamphetamine, and methamphetamine. The data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance (NEISS-CADES) project involving 188 visits to 64 emergency departments reported adverse events from Aug. 1, 2003, to Dec. 31, 2005, said Dr. Jhung. They found that 61 percent of the adverse events resulted from unintentional ingestions or overdoses, 33 percent from adverse events related to the drugs, and six percent from allergic reactions. The researchers excluded visits resulting from intentional self-harm, drug withdrawal, or drug abuse. Eighty-two percent of the visits occurred in children under 18,…
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