According to a study from NHS England, for the very first time since the statistics have been kept, more adults than children were given prescriptions for ADHD medication. These findings are rather surprising, to say the least. According to the statistics, throughout the years 2022 and 2023, the number of prescriptions written for ADHD medications climbed by 32% among adults and by 12% among children less than 17 years old.
Over the course of 2022 and 2023, a total of 2.54 million ADHD-related products were prescribed, representing a 19.3% rise compared to the previous year. According to the findings of the investigation, rates have been climbing at a quicker pace ever since 2020. According to the annual study, there were 233,000 patients in England who were prescribed drugs for ADHD last year, with 120,000 of those patients being adults. However, the percentage of boys between 10 to 14 continues to make up the biggest group among all age and gender categories.
According to Professor Azeem Majeed, a General Practitioner and Professor of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial College London, there has been an increase in the number of patients of all ages requesting ADHD evaluations at his clinic in South London. Whenever it comes to ADHD, general practitioners have consistently brought up concerns regarding shared-care agreements for medication prescribing.
Assessments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at private clinics came under scrutiny back in May when a BBC investigation discovered that people were being diagnosed with ADHD based on low-quality online tests.
The prescribing figures illustrate the need for NHS England to look at this area of care as currently, referral requests, care pathways, waiting times, and ongoing management are placing a lot of pressure on primary care teams as well as causing stress for patients, explained Majeed.
Do you feel that we are making excessive diagnoses of ADHD in today’s society?
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