Study finds errors with ADHD meds in kids has increased last two decades

BOSTON - A new study in the Journal of Pediatrics finds errors involving ADHD medications in kids have risen sharply over the past two decades.  

Researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio studied national poison data from 2000 through 2021 and found that errors involving ADHD medications increased by almost 300% in people under 20 during that period. 

Two-thirds of the cases occurred in kids ages 6 to 12. The most common error was accidentally taking or being given mediation twice, followed by taking someone else's medication or taking the wrong medication. 

With the rise in the number of prescriptions written for these drugs over the years comes a rise in mistakes made. 

They say a greater focus on educating patients and their caregivers about how to take the medications and an improvement in child-safety dispensers could help reduce these errors.

In:
• ADHD

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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