Nationwide Rate of Adult ADHD Diagnosis and Pharmacotherapy from 2015 to 2018

Sang-Min Lee, Hyeon-Kyoung Cheong, In-Hwan Oh and Minha Hong
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Sang-Min Lee: Department of Psychiatry, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul 20447, Korea
Hyeon-Kyoung Cheong: Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Korea University, Ansan 15355, Korea
In-Hwan Oh: Department of Preventive Medicine, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul 20447, Korea
Minha Hong: Department of Psychiatry, Myongji Hospital, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Goyang 10475, Korea

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-7

Abstract: There is a paucity of published literature on the epidemiology of adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We investigated the time trends of the diagnostic and pharmacotherapy incidence of ADHD, including the first used medication, in the adult population based on a Korean population-based database from 2015 to 2018. The number of diagnosed cases of ADHD significantly increased from 7782 in 2015 to 17,264 in 2018 ( p = 0.03), which is 0.02% to 0.04% of the total population. Similarly, the number of pharmacotherapy cases of ADHD significantly increased from 3886 in 2015 to 12,502 in 2018 ( p = 0.01), which is 0.01% to 0.03% of total population. The most commonly used medication at the initiation of pharmacotherapy shifted from Penid in 2015 to Concerta in 2018. Furthermore, combination therapy with two or more drugs was the preferred method in 2016–2018. In conclusion, the identified diagnoses and pharmacotherapy incidences were very low, highlighting the need to improve the public’s awareness of adult ADHD.

Keywords: adult; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; diagnosis; pharmacotherapy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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