Reuters (3/20, Emery) reports, “Children and young adults with” attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) “who are treated with the stimulants amphetamine or methylphenidate face a small but significant risk of developing psychosis, with amphetamine products twice as likely to spark a problem,” researchers concluded. The study revealed that “among 110,923 patients getting amphetamine (Adderall, Adzenys XR-ODT, others), 237 subsequently received a psychosis diagnosis, or 0.21 percent.” Meanwhile, “in the same-sized group prescribed methylphenidate (Concerta, Ritalin, Daytrana, others), there were 106 episodes, or 0.10 percent,” the study revealed. According to HealthDay, 12 years ago, “the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required stimulant manufacturers to warn that their products might unexpectedly cause psychotic or manic symptoms.” The findings were published online March 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
MedPage Today (3/20, Hlavinka) reports the author of an accompanying editorial “emphasized this study’s findings ‘should not be considered definitive,’ as it was not possible to exclude certain confounding factors.” For instance, “certain individuals might have lower or higher vulnerabilities to the onset of psychosis when taking stimulants, he wrote.” As a result, “whether psychosis is due to stimulant use, to inherent vulnerability to psychosis, or to the interaction of those two factors remains unclear,’” the editorialist observed. Also covering the story are CNBC (3/20, Bursztynsky), Medscape (3/20, Brauser, Subscription Publication), and HealthDay (3/20, Norton).
Related Links:
— “With ADHD, amphetamine has double the psychosis risk of methylphenidate, “Gene Emery, Reuters, March 20, 2019