More women than men on ADHD medicines
Summary of story from Vitals, November 16, 2011
More American women are using medication for ADHD than men, according to a new report from Medco Health Solutions, although more boys than girls are treated for the condition.
From 2001 to 2010, the number of women aged 20 to 44 taking ADHD drugs increased by more than 250 percent.
Since ADHD doesn’t pop up all of a sudden in adulthood, it’s likely that women who started taking meds in the past decade flew under the radar until they became adults, says Dr Lenard Adler, director of the Psychiatry and Neurology Adult ADHD Program at the New York University School of Medicine.
This is because girls are less likely than boys to exhibit hyperactivity, so boys with the condition are more likely to be noticed. Many girls who do not get the correct diagnosis are often labelled as lazy or unmotivated.
