United States: Patients admitted to the hospital who were taking high doses of prescribed amphetamine ADHD were 5 times more likely to suffer from psychosis and mania than a patient not taking the medication, research showed.
In more than 1,300 patients admitted to hospitals affiliated with Mass General Brigham, researchers correlated psychosis and mania incidence with a person’s prescription stimulants dosage.
The prescribed medications are used to assist people to focus while in school or workplaces. The patients who consumed 30mg or more of dextroamphetamine – or 40 milligrams of Adderall – became psychotic and or manic almost five times as often. Were three times more likely to experience the problem than those who did not take the medication, a study conducted on Thursday and published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
As reported by USA TODAY, these researchers did not establish any such association between another popular ADHD drug methylphenidate, marketed under the name Ritalin. The studies done in the past highlighted that psychosis and mania were observed in less than one percent of the people who used these normally prescribed amphetamines for treating ADHD. But for the first time, Mass General Brigham finds out that there is a correlation between the strength of the prescription and the given side effects.
That being said, even though these side effects are a rare occurrence, Moran said that those physicians who prescribe these stimulants for the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder should “maybe sit away from (higher) doses or just make sure patients are monitored. “Other researchers not involved in the study said this information could be valuable to physicians who prescribe drugs such as Adderall.
A professor of psychiatry and the behavioral health at Osu, Nina Kraguljac said the study helps to be clear that only high doses of Adderall and other prescription amphetamines are associated with a higher risk.
Kraguljac said what this study demonstrates is that physicians do not wish to particularly go beyond 30 milligrams in terms of dextroamphetamine or 40 milligrams of Adderall. “That is absolutely novel, very clinically relevant and very helpful because it also assures you that, by taking low to moderate doses of it, you don’t have to buy a ticket to psychosis,” Kraguljac said.
Researchers have also concluded that they carried out the study because the doctors had noticed some of the patients with the psychosis and the mania had also taken prescription amphetamines said the Moran, a psychiatrist and a pharmacoepidemiology researcher at Mclean Hospital a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.
Moran’s research team and his mates gathered the medical records of the patients who got admitted to the McLean from the year 2005 and through 2019 after first visiting emergency rooms at the other reasons. People who had been prescribed an amphetamine within the previous month were more likely to be diagnosed with the psychosis or mania than those who did not take the medication.
Also, those who took the strongest doses had the greatest odds of developing psychosis or mania. Hospital workers contacted the patients’ pharmacies to document which prescription medications and the doses they had been given at the time of their hospitalizations.