ArticleJournal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology2013
Five-fold increase in national prevalence rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medications for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and other psychiatric disorders: a Danish register-based study.
Article in Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 118 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of pharmacologically treated attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, adolescents, and adults: systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- The influence of participation in target-shooting sport for children with inattentive, hyperactive and impulsive symptoms - A controlled study of best practice.BMC psychiatry · 2017Trial
- Trial
- Update on pharmacogenomic approaches in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders.Psychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Use of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Medication Among Danish Children and Adolescents From 2010 to 2023.Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica · 2026Article
- Mental health problems in children and young people in Dutch general practice: trends in incidence and consultation rates from 2016 to 2022.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- When ADHD knocks on the door - discourse theory as a frame to explore subject positions and mental wellbeing before diagnosis.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2023Article
- Can a nation-wide e-cohort of ADHD and ASD in childhood be established using Welsh routinely available datasets?BMJ open · 2023Article
- Review
- Identification of shared and differentiating genetic architecture for autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and case subgroups.Nature genetics · 2022Article
- The Use ofBiomedicines · 2022Review
- Prevalence and determinants of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication use during pregnancy: Results from the Quebec Pregnancy/Children Cohort.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2021Article
- Overdiagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Scoping Review.JAMA network open · 2021Article
- Article
- Effects of Extended-Release Methylphenidate Treatment on Cognitive Task Performance in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology · 2020Article
- Fetal brain and placental programming in maternal obesity: A review of human and animal model studies.Prenatal diagnosis · 2020Review
- Gender- and age-stratified analyses of ADHD medication use in children and adolescents in Finland using population-based longitudinal data, 2008-2018.Scandinavian journal of public health · 2020Article
- Article
- Parental asthma occurrence, exacerbations and risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2019Article
- Glutaminergic signaling in the caudate nucleus is required for behavioral sensitization to methylphenidate.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence and time trends in prescriptions of methylphenidate, dexamphetamine, and atomoxetine in children and adolescents, within three diagnostic groups: 1) autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 2) attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and 3) other psychiatric disorders.
methodsData from six different national registers were used and merged to identify a cohort of all children and adolescents born in Denmark between 1990 and 2001 (n=852,711). Sociodemographic covariates on cohort members and their parents and lifetime prescriptions of methylphenidate, dexamphetamine, and atomoxetine were extracted from the registers. Prescriptions were also stratified by duration (<6 months. vs.≥ 6 months).
resultsSixteen percent of 9698 children and adolescents with ASD (n=1577), 61% of 11,553 children and adolescents with ADHD (n=7021) and 3% of 48,468 children and adolescents with other psychiatric disorders (n=1537) were treated with one or more ADHD medications. There was a significant increase in prescription rates of these medications for all three groups. From 2003 to 2010, youth 6-13 years of age with ASD, ADHD, and other psychiatric disorders had 4.7-fold (4.4-4.9), 6.3-fold (6.0-6.4), and 5.5-fold (5.0-5.9) increases, respectively, in prescription rates of ADHD medications.
conclusionThis is the largest study to date assessing stimulant treatment in children and adolescents with ASD, and is the first prospective study quantifying the change over time in the prevalence of treatment with ADHD medications in a population-based national cohort of children and adolescents with ASD. The prevalence of stimulant treatment in youth with ASD of 16% is consistent with earlier studies. The past decade has witnessed a clear and progressive increase in the prescription rates of medications typically used to treat ADHD in children and adolescents in Denmark. This increase is not limited to only those with ADHD, but includes others with neuropsychiatric disorders, including ASD. The risks and benefits of this practice await further study.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.