ADHD medication associated with reduced risk for motor vehicle crashes
About 1.25 million people worldwide die annually because of MVCs. ADHD is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder with symptoms that include poor sustained attention, impaired impulse control and hyperactivity. ADHD affects 5 percent to 7 percent of children and adolescent and for many people it persists into adulthood. Prior studies have suggested people with ADHD are more likely to experience MVCs. Pharmacotherapy is a first-line treatment for the condition and rates of ADHD medication prescribing have increased over the last decade in the United States and in other countries. Zheng Chang, Ph.D., M.Sc., of the Karolinska Institute , Stockholm, Sweden, and coauthors identified more than 2.3 million U.S. patients with ADHD between 2005 and 2014 from commercial health insurance claims and identified emergency department visits for MVCs. Analyses compared the risk of MVCs during months when patients received their medication with the risk of MVCs during months when they did not. Am...