ADHD cost 'to rise ten-fold'
£7 million was spent on ADHD drugs by the NHS in 2002
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Thursday, 15, Nov 2007 08:16
The cost of prescribing drugs for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents is set to rise ten-fold, a scientist claims.
Research published today says that the cost of ADHD prescriptions in the NHS in England in 2012 will be between £49 million and £101 million.
This is a rise from the £7 million spent in the NHS in 2002.
Hyperactivity is shown by over-activity, inattention and impulsiveness occurring at the same time, with ADHD being an extreme form at a level that impairs learning and function.
To predict how much the condition will cost the NHS, Michael Schlander of the University of Heidelberg in Germany modelled various scenarios to determine possible expenditure.
These models were based on demographic and epidemiological data, past spending trends and an assessment of which drugs may soon be available for prescriptions.
"The scenarios developed here strongly suggest that the trend of rising drug expenditures for ADHD may not abate in the near future," Dr Schlander writes in the journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health.
"They further indicate that physicians involved in providing care for children and adolescents with ADHD should anticipate escalating expenditures and challenging questions from payers."
He concluded: "Likewise, pharmaceutical manufacturers developing and selling products for the treatment of patients with ADHD will need to produce timely evidence supporting the economic value of their products."