Abstract
We examine whether, among children diagnosed with ADHD, are those whose mothers have a history of psychotropic medication use more likely to treat their ADHD with medication? Children born in Manitoba, Canada from 2000 to 2010 diagnosed with ADHD between their 4th and 8th birthday. Maternal psychotropic medication use was assessed from one year before the child’s birth to the child’s fourth birthday. Logistic regression models examine the relationship between maternal history of psychotropic medication use and the use of medication to treat ADHD in children. Among the 2384 children diagnosed with ADHD, the rate of ADHD medication use was higher for those whose mother had a history of psychotropic medication use (76.6%) than for those whose mothers did not (72.5%) (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.03, 1.49). Children whose mothers have a history of psychotropic medication use are more likely to have their ADHD treated with medication.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Thapar A, Cooper M (2016) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Lancet 387:1240–1250. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00238-X
Xu G, Strathearn L, Liu B, Yang B, Bao W (2018) Twenty-year trends in diagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder among US children and adolescents, 1997–2016. JAMA Netw Open 1(4):e181471. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.1471
Danielson M, Bitsko R, Ghandour R, Holbrook J, Kogan M (2018) Prevalence of parent-reported ADHD diagnosis and associated treatment among U.S. children and adolescents, 2016. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 47(2):199–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.03.040
Thapar A, Cooper M, Eyre O, Langley K (2013) Practitioner review: what have we learnt about the causes of ADHD? J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discip 54(1):3–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02611.x
Felt BT, Biermann B, Christner JG, Kochhar P, Van Harrison R (2014) Diagnosis and management of ADHD in children. Am Fam Phys 90(7):456–464. https://doi.org/10.1002/psb.1710
Sheldrick R, Leslie L, Rodday A, Parsons S, Saunders T, Wong J (2015) Variations in physician attitudes regarding ADHD and their association with prescribing practices. J Atten Disord 19(7):569–577. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.03.040
Hughes KL, Roberts G (2019) Who is prescribing psychotropic medications in a public developmental–behavioural clinical service and how often? J Paediatr Child Health. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpc.14676
Coletti DJ, Pappadopulos E, Katsiotas NJ, Berest A, Jensen PS, Kafantaris V (2012) Parent perspectives on the decision to initiate medication treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol 22(3):226–237. https://doi.org/10.1089/cap.2011.0090
Cormier E (2012) How parents make decisions to use medication to treat their child’s ADHD: a grounded theory study. J Am Psychiatr Nurses Assoc 18(6):345–356. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078390312466918
Lesesne C, Visser S, White C (2003) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in school-aged children: association with maternal mental health and use of health care resources. Pediatrics 111(5):1232–1237
Wolford E et al (2017) Maternal depressive symptoms during and after pregnancy are associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms in their 3- to 6-year-old children. PLoS ONE 12(12):1–13. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190248
Ray GT, Croen LA, Habel LA (2009) Mothers of children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder health conditions and medical care utilization in periods before and after birth of the child. Med Care 47(1):105–114. https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0b013e31817e18c0
Farr SL, Bitsko RH, Hayes DK, Dietz PM (2010) Mental health and access to services among US women of reproductive age. Am J Obstet Gynecol 203(6):542.e1-542.e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2010.07.007
Pratt LA, Brody DJ, Gu Q (2017) Antidepressant use among persons aged 12 and over: United States, 2011–2014. NCHS Data Brief 283:2011–2014
Rotermann M, Sanmartin C, Hennessy D, Arthur M (2014) Prescription medication use by Canadians aged 6 to 79. Health Rep 25(6):3–9
Nickel N et al (2014) Data resource profile: pathways to health and social equity for children (PATHS Equity for Children). Int J Epidemiol 43(5):1438–1449
Roos L, Gupta S, Soodeen R, Jebamani R (2005) Data quality in an information-rich environment: Canada as an example. Can J Aging 24:153–170. https://doi.org/10.1353/cja.2005.0055
Smith M et al (2018) Assessing the quality of administrative data for research: a framework from the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. J Am Med Informatics Assoc 25(3):224–229. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocx078
Brownell M et al (2012) How are Manitoba’s children doing. Winnipeg, MB
Wolraich ML et al (2019) Clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents. Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-2528
Visser SN et al (2014) Trends in the parent-report of health care provider-diagnosed and medicated attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: United States, 2003–2011. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 53(1):34-46.e2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2013.09.001
Leong C et al (2017) Psychotropic drug use before, during, and after pregnancy: a population-based study in a Canadian cohort (2001–2013). Can J Psychiatry 62(8):543–550. https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743717711168
Vizzini L et al (2019) Maternal anxiety, depression and sleep disorders before and during pregnancy, and preschool ADHD symptoms in the NINFEA birth cohort study. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci 28(5):521–531. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796018000185
Stein A et al (2014) Effects of perinatal mental disorders on the fetus and child. Lancet 384(9956):1800–1819. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61277-0
Cheung K, Aberdeen K, Ward MA, Theule J (2018) Maternal depression in families of children with ADHD: a meta-analysis. J Child Fam Stud 27(4):1015–1028. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1017-4
Gajria K et al (2014) Adherence, persistence, and medication discontinuation in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder—a systematic literature review. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 10:1543–1569. https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S65721
Charach A, Fernandez R (2013) Enhancing ADHD medication adherence: challenges and opportunities topical collection on attention-deficit disorder. Curr Psychiatry Rep. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-013-0371-6
DosReis S, Myers MA (2008) Parental attitudes and involvement in psychopharmacological treatment for ADHD: a conceptual model. Int Rev Psychiatry 20(2):135–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540260801933084
Biederman J (2003) Pharmacotherapy for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) decreases the risk for substance abuse: findings from a longitudinal follow-up of youths with and without ADHD. J Clin Psychiatry 64(Suppl 11):3–8
Loe IM, Feldman HM (2007) Academic and educational outcomes of children with ADHD. J Pediatr Psychol 32(6):643–54
Shaw M, Hodgkins P, Caci H, Young S, Kahle J, Woods AG, Arnold LE (2012) A systematic review and analysis of long-term outcomes in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: effects of treatment and non-treatment. BMC Med 10(1):1–5
Bai G, Wang Y, Yang L, Niu W (2015) Effectiveness of a focused, brief psychoeducation program for parents of ADHD children: improvement of medication adherence and symptoms. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 11:2721–2735
Montoya A, Colom F, Ferrin M (2011) Is psychoeducation for parents and teachers of children and adolescents with ADHD efficacious ? A systematic literature review. Eur Psychiatry 26:166–175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2010.10.005
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy for use of data contained in the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository under project #H2019:110 (HIPC#2018/2019-70). The results and conclusions are those of the authors and no official endorsement of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, Manitoba Health, or other data providers is intended or should be inferred. Data used in this study are from the Manitoba Population Research Repository housed at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, University of Manitoba and were derived from data provided by Manitoba Health and Manitoba Families.
Funding
This work was supported by funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PJT-162111).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no competing interests to declare.
Ethical Approval
All procedures performe in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For this type of sudy (retrospective) formal consent is not required.
Informed Consent
Research projects using data housed at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy do not require individual consent based on legislation allowing the use of these routinely-collected and de-identified data under conditions that maintain privacy and confidentiality.
Research Involving Human Participants
The study was approved by the University of Manitoba Health Research Ethics Board (#H2019:110) and the Health Information Privacy Committee of Manitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living (#2018/2019-70).
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wall-Wieler, E., Bolton, J.M., Detillieux, G. et al. Use of Medication to Treat Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Young Children: The Role of Maternal History of Psychotropic Medication Use. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 54, 283–289 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01247-x
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01247-x