ArticleJournal of attention disorders2025
Self-Reported ADHD Diagnosis and Illicit Drug Use and Prescription Medication Misuse Among U.S. Working-Age Adults.
Article in Journal of attention disorders, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Sex differences in the response to treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Review
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo estimate differences by self-reported lifetime ADHD diagnosis status in the percentage of U.S. working-age (18- to 64-year-old) adults in 2023 who report lifetime and past-year use or misuse of 11 different categories of illicit drugs and prescription medications, overall and among those without a self-reported drug use disorder (DUD).
methodWe analyze data from the 2023 National Wellbeing Survey (total sample unweighted
resultsIn 2023, lifetime and past-year use or misuse of all 11 categories of drugs and medications was significantly higher among working-age adults with ADHD than among those without ADHD. Statistically significant differences by self-reported ADHD status persisted in multivariable models that controlled for demographic characteristics, with adjusted odds ratios (AORs) ranging from 1.77 for lifetime misuse of prescription sedatives to 3.08 for lifetime misuse of prescription stimulants, and from 1.63 for past-year use of crack cocaine to 3.33 for past-year misuse of prescription stimulants. Among those with no DUD, results indicated significantly higher lifetime use or misuse among persons with ADHD than among persons without ADHD for all 11 categories of drugs and mediations, with AORs ranging from 1.69 for misuse of prescription opioids to 2.87 for prescription stimulants. Past-year use or misuse among working-age adults never diagnosed with a DUD was significantly higher for 7 of 11 categories of drugs and medications among persons with ADHD relative to persons without ADHD, with statistically significant AORs ranging from 1.54 for use of heroin to 3.48 for misuse of prescription stimulants.
conclusionResults suggest that ADHD is a risk factor for higher illicit drug use and prescription medication misuse among U.S. working-age adults, even in the absence of a DUD. Clinicians working with adults with ADHD should assess use and misuse of a broad range of drugs and medications regardless of whether the person with ADHD has a co-occurring DUD diagnosis, and engage in therapeutic interventions when appropriate. Future national data collection efforts that include measures of drug use and medication misuse (e.g., NSDUH, NHIS, and BRFSS) should include measures of lifetime and current ADHD diagnosis, symptoms, and treatment history.
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