College students who misuse stimulants more likely to have ADHD, substance-use disorder
"Our data suggest that college students who misuse prescription stimulant medications are more likely to exhibit clinically relevant psychiatric dysfunction," says Timothy Wilens, MD, chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) and co-director of the MGH Center for Addiction Medicine, corresponding author of the report. "In addition to higher levels of ADHD, conduct disorder, and alcohol or drug use disorders, the majority of those misusing stimulants met or approached criteria for stimulant-use disorder." Stimulant drugs are widely prescribed to treat ADHD, which is believed to affect up to 8 percent of U.S. college students, and several studies have documented frequent nonmedical use -- either without a prescription or taking higher-than-prescribed doses -- particularly among college students. One recent study found that almost two thirds of college students had been offered stimulants for nonmedical use and 31 percen