Study: Ritalin use much less than reported
Associated Press
CHICAGO -
	Doctors use nearly 2 1/2 times more Ritalin for hyperactive and
inattentive children now than in 1990, a far smaller increase than the
sixfold rise that some reports have suggested, researchers say.
	About 1.5 million young people 5 to 18, or 2.8 percent of the
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 policy-makers have suggested that Ritalin
is being overprescribed for youngsters.
	The study, led by Dr. Daniel Safer of the Johns Hopkins 
University School of Medicine in Baltimore, did not address how much 
Ritalin use is appropriate.  But it pronounced that some estimates of 
its use are exaggerated.
	The researchers 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.
	Ritalin, known generically as methylphenidate, calms 
restlessness, reduces impulsiveness and improves attention in children 
who have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.  It has been 
prescribed for about 40 years.
	A U.N. agency report in February suggested 3 percent to 5 
percent of the U.S. youngsters were on the drug.  The Drug Enforcement 
Administration has been quoted as saying production and use of Ritalin 
increased nearly sixfold from 1990 to 1995.
	The researchers, however, said the DEA production figures do not 
reflect actual use.
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This should end the whiners, anti-drugsters and herbal sales scamsters 
claims. IMHO the increase can also be attributed to the more aggressive 
identification of ADHDers (especially the AGG girls) and the realization 
that ADHD is found and treatable in adulthood.
                   ===>Mark Probert<===
              email at MSProbert@aol.com
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 * CMPQwk #1.4 * UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY
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