Higher Substance Abuse Rates Found Among People with ADHD

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on April 21, 2017 under Addiction Trends, AZ Drug Rehab News, Prescription Drugs | Comments are off for this article

The origins of substance abuse is still not really known among healthcare workers and experts. And while the disease is rampant throughout the country and the rest of the world, many in the medical community are still trying to figure out if it is genetic or a learned behavior. So, in an effort to better understand where addiction stems from, researchers in Sweden decided to tackle one group of people where the chances of substance abuse are increased significantly.

People with ADHD are much more likely to report problems with drugs and alcohol. In fact, reports show that up to 30% of adults with ADHD will also suffer from a drug addiction problem at some point in their lives. Because of the increased risk of substance abuse, the research team at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm poured over data gathered from more than 62,000 ADHD patients, and their relatives.

From this information, they determined that not only are the patients with ADHD more likely to develop a substance abuse problem, but so are their immediate relatives. This was a surprise to the researchers, as previous studies have never looked into the link between previous generations connection with ADHD and substance abuse.

One interesting conclusion of the study was that the previous hypothesis of stimulant medication causing an urge for more drugs may not be true. The researchers in this particular study believe that the connection between ADHD and substance abuse may be more of a genetic issue, rather than a problem with the medication.

“The main clinical implication is that the overlap between ADHD and SUD [substance use disorder] is likely not explained by harmful effects of stimulant medication. This is important, given that concerns around the safety of central stimulant treatment in ADHD might result in the withholding of essential and effective pharmacological treatment in affected individuals,” stated the authors of the study.

And while this is only one study, it does provide more insight into the role of ADHD on future generations and may also help medical professionals prevent against younger generations succumbing to substance abuse problems with better screening techniques.