1. ADHD medicine consumption in Europe after COVID-19: catch-up or trend change?
- Author
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Gimbach S, Vogel D, Fried R, Faraone SV, Banaschewski T, Buitelaar J, Döpfner M, and Ammer R
- Subjects
- Humans, Pandemics, Europe epidemiology, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity drug therapy, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity epidemiology, COVID-19, Mental Health Services
- Abstract
Background: Although the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications have been associated with mental health services utilization and medication consumption, there is no longitudinal study on the long-term impact on ADHD medication use trends., Methods: This study examines the European ADHD medication consumption in 2020 to 2022 compared to the predicted consumption assuming the persistence of pre-pandemic trends. Predictions are calculated using Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) models., Results: While European ADHD medication sales recorded a drop in 2020, they returned to the predicted level in 2021, even slightly exceeding it. In 2022, we found a clear exceedance of the predicted level by 16.4% on average at country level. Furthermore, the increase in consumption growth in the post-pandemic period (2021-2022) compared to the pre-pandemic period (2014-2019) was significant in 26 of the 28 European countries under consideration., Conclusion: There is strong evidence of a trend change in the ADHD medicine consumption growth throughout Europe after the COVID-19 pandemic., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2024
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