Behavior therapy is recommended before ADHD medication... The rate of drug prescriptions is high immediately after the research team's diagnosis
Sep 01, 2025
|
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of ADHD among children and adolescents (5-17 years old) in the U.S. was 11.3% according to the National Health Survey (NIS) data conducted between 2020 and 2022.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that ADHD be subjected to evidence-based behavioral therapy called 'behavioral management' for 6 months before medication after diagnosis. Drug treatment has a fast and fundamental symptom relief effect based on brain neurotransmitter action that controls attention and impulsiveness, but behavioral therapy has advantages in that it helps parents improve their children's behavior at home and fosters children's social skills and self-regulation skills. In particular, behavioral therapy takes precedence when symptoms are mild or children are very young. Behavior therapy helps parents and children form positive relationships, while rewarding children's positive behaviors and guiding them to ignore negative behaviors. It is also recommended to create helpful tools such as visual schedules for organizing. In many cases, behavioral therapy is attempted first because of drug side effects or rejection.
However, a study found that even preschoolers who were recently diagnosed with ADHD are being prescribed too quickly after the first diagnosis.
This is the result of a study by Professor Yair Banett of Stanford Medical School in the United States, which was published in the American Medical Association's journal JAMA Network Open.
The research team analyzed the diagnosis rate of ADHD, the rate of treatment prescription, and the period from first diagnosis to drug prescription through electronic medical records of 712,478 children aged 3 to 5 who received treatment from 2016 to 2023 at eight primary medical institutions belonging to the U.S. Pediatric Clinical Research Network (PEDSnet).
As a result of the analysis, 9807 (1.4%) were diagnosed with ADHD during the study period, of which 7414 (76.4%) were male children. Of these, 6624 (68.2%) were prescribed ADHD medications before the age of 7, and 4092 (42.2%) in particular were prescribed within 30 days of their first diagnosis of ADHD. The prescription rate within 30 days after the first diagnosis also varied from hospital to hospital, ranging from 26 to 49%. In addition, the possibility of early prescription was 62% higher in children diagnosed at the age of 5 than in those diagnosed at the age of 4, and 17% higher in boys than in girls.
Professor Barnett pointed out that `We found that children were prescribed drugs immediately after diagnosis of ADHD, which is concerning.' The stimulant drugs that are widely prescribed for ADHD are at greater risk of side effects as they are younger, and the effect disappears when the drug is broken down in the body"It is best to start behavioral therapy for six months before prescribing a drug."
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
