Methylphenidate Prescription Due to Increased ADHD Patients ↑
Mar 26, 2025
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According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, there is no significant difference in the amount of prescriptions per person, but the number of target patients has increased considerably over the past five years, and the overall use is on the rise. The number of prescription patients, which was 133,813 in 2019, is rapidly increasing to 175,530 in 2021, 221,483 in 2022, 286,63 in 2023, and 337,595 in 2024.
This is believed to have increased the number of ADHD patients due to the establishment of new indicators for diagnosis (such as mood disorders) in 2022 and clarification of diagnostic criteria, and it is analyzed that this is a common trend around the world. In addition, due to the nature of the disease, half of children and adolescents need continuous treatment until adults, and changes in the health care environment, such as improving access to mental health clinics, have also affected the increase in use. According to the current status of methylphenidate prescriptions received by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety by Kim Yoon-min of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, the rate of increase among prescribed patients in their 20s and 30s was large.
In response to this increase in methylphenidate use, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety added methylphenidate to the 「Criteria for Anti-Abuse of Drugs」 in September last year to prevent indiscriminate prescriptions and uses an integrated drug management system to monitor medical institutions that may be abused. Measures to prevent misuse of methylphenidate include ▲3 months of prescription and administration, ▲ cases of prescription and administration beyond the purpose of treatment (ADHD or sleep attack), and ▲ cases of exceeding the maximum permitted daily dose.
In addition, by analyzing the prescription details reported to the integrated drug management system, medical institutions suspected of misuse, such as excessive prescription, will be intensively inspected this year following last year. In addition, online unfair advertisements such as 'medicine for good study' are continuously being taken by closely checking online posts.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said on the 26th that it will further strengthen monitoring and on-site inspections on whether the drug is being prescribed in accordance with the standards for measures to prevent misuse of drugs, while continuing to monitor supply and demand conditions to communicate with related companies so that there is no difficulty in using the treatment at the site, and actively review administrative support if necessary. Methylphenidate-based drugs have been sold out due to a recent surge in demand.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
