Half Of Commercially Insured Youth With ADHD Receiving Antipsychotics Have No Clinical Indication

About half of commercially insured youth ages 3 to 24 newly diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and taking an antipsychotic had no clinical indication for the antipsychotic. About 2.3% of youth newly diagnosed with ADHD were treated with an antipsychotic. Within this small group, about 52.7% had a potential clinical diagnostic rationale for antipsychotic treatment, and 47.3% did not.

These findings were reported in “Antipsychotic Treatment Among Youths With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder” by Ryan S. Sultan, M.D.; Shuai Wang, Ph.D.; Stephen Crystal, Ph.D.; et al. The researchers analyzed claims data from . . .