The nonmedical use of prescription ADHD medications: results from a national Internet panel

Novak, Scott P; Kroutil, Larry A; Williams, Rick L; Van Brunt, David L

doi:10.1186/1747-597X-2-32

Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy

Table 2 Selected lifetime nonmedical use of prescription and illicit drugs, ADHD diversion study, National Survey of Drug Use and Health, 2005

From: The nonmedical use of prescription ADHD medications: results from a national Internet panel

	Lifetime Use
	2005 Diversion		2005 NSDUH
	n = 4,297		n = 32,104
	%^a	SE	%^a	SE	P ^b	ES^c
Illicit Drugs
Marijuana	57.54	1.87	53.66	0.54	0.05	0.078
Cocaine	23.47	2.01	20.23	0.37	0.11	0.081
Methamphetamine	8.63	1.50	5.83	0.21	0.06	0.119
Supraval^d	0.11	0.05
Prescription stimulants ^e
Prescription diet pills^f	3.95	0.90	3.46	0.15	0.59	0.027
Ritalin or methylphenidate	4.20	0.76	2.67	0.12	0.05	0.095
Cylert or pemoline	0.31	0.10	0.08	0.03	0.03	0.081
Dexedrine, Dextrostat, or Dexampex	1.67	0.65	0.75	0.06	0.16	0.107
Dextroamphetamine	0.67	0.26	0.20	0.03	0.08	0.105
Prescription stimulants ^e
Preludin or phenmetrazine	0.49	0.25	0.16	0.03	0.20	0.083
Any Adderall	2.06	0.21	n/a
Adderall	1.58	0.19	n/a
Adderall XR	0.80	0.14	n/a
Concerta	0.87	0.30	n/a
Any ADHD stimulants^g	7.01	0.87	n/a
ADHD Nonstimulants
Modafanil	0.42	0.24	n/a
Strattera	0.53	0.25	n/a
Any ADHD medications ^h	7.07	0.87	n/a

ADHD = attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; n/a = Estimate not available from the 2005 NSDUH; NSDUH = National Survey of Drug Use and Health.
^a Weighted to the U.S. population of noninstitutionalized civilian adults aged 18 to 49.
^b P value derived from chi-square test in SUDAAN.
^c Effect size, determined by the difference in prevalence estimates between the 2005 Diversion Study and the 2005 NSDUH. In the social sciences, an effect size is considered to be "small" when it is about 0.10, "medium" when it is about 0.30, and "large" when it is about 0.50, based on Cohen's d (1988) [32].
^d Fictitious drug used to assess reporting bias.
^e Nonmedical use.
^f Examples given in both studies were amphetamines, Benzedrine, Biphetamine, Fastin, or phentermine. Because some of these medications may be used to treat ADHD (e.g., amphetamines), respondents in the 2005 Diversion Study who reported lifetime nonmedical use of "prescription diet pills" were subsequently asked separate questions about nonmedical use of (a) amphetamines; (b) Benzedrine; (c) Biphetamine; (d) Fastin, or phentermine; or (e)some other prescription diet pill.
^g ADHD stimulants referred to any of the following: amphetamines or dextroamphetamine (including any form of Adderall, Biphetamine, Dexedrine, Dextrostat, or Dexampex); any form of methylphenidate or dexmethylphenidate (including Ritalin, Concerta, Methylin, or Focalin); or Cylert or pemoline.
^h Nonmedical use of any ADHD stimulants or nonstimulants in the period of interest.

Back to article page

ISSN: 1747-597X

Contact us

General enquiries: journalsubmissions@springernature.com