Myomancy ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism

The Medco’s 2005 Drug Trend Report [PDF 5.8MB] details how the USA is using prescription drugs of all types. Near the beginning of the report, under the title ‘Fast Movers’ it says:
“ADHD drugs. Trend: 30.5% [increase]. This therapeutic class includes CNS stimulants and nonstimulants that are used to treat ADHD, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and other CNS-based disorders. The rapid trend reflects a strong increase in utilization for the drugs in this class (14.0%). Unit costs have also risen rapidly (14.5%), due to price increases for the brand-name drugs and a shift in therapy mix toward increased use of Strattera“.
So not only has medication usage gone up but its got more expensive. Another titbit in the the report:
“The use of ADHD drugs in adults is a significant new market that has already begun to drive utilization growth in this category. Only 13% of adults with ADHD are currently being treated“.
The report highlights the advertising campaigns the pharmaceutical companies are running in the US specifically targeting adults. To a UK citizen the idea of a drug company advertising prescription drugs on TV seems bizarre. On Newsday.com, in the article Surge in adults on ADHD drugs they dug up a couple interesting statistics:
“released today, shows use rose 113 percent among women 20 to 44 and 104 percent among women 45 to 64, both far more than among men”
and
“Those figures dispel earlier beliefs that children ‘grow out of the disorder,’ said Dr. Patricia Quinn, a developmental pediatrician at the National Center for Gender Issues and ADHD, and an adviser to Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, an advocacy group. ‘We know that 50 percent of adults continue to have problems with attention that affect their functioning,’ and many now are staying on medication beyond adolescence, Quinn said“.