Study Disputes Rise In Ritalin Use

Wed., Dec. 11, 1996

Compiled From Wire Services

Doctors use about 2-1/2 times more Ritalin for hyperactive and inattentive children now than in 1990, a far smaller increase than the alarming sixfold rise that some reports have suggested, researchers say.

About 1.5 million young people ages 5 through 18, or 2.8 percent of U.S. school-age children, take the drug for relief from attention and hyperactivity disorders, the researchers reported in the December issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Some politicians and policymakers have suggested that Ritalin is being overprescribed for youngsters.

The new study, led by Dr. Daniel J. Safer of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said recent increases in Ritalin use appear to be due in part to the drug’s improved image and children being kept on it longer.

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Study Disputes Rise In Ritalin Use

Jesse Tinsley

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