Rates of switching stimulants in consecutively referred medication naïve adults with ADHD

To evaluate the frequency and correlates of needing to switch the initial treatment with a stimulant medication to the alternative family in newly referred, untreated adults with ADHD initiating treatment.

Subjects were consecutively referred unmedicated adults with DSM-5 ADHD who initiated stimulant treatment. Before assessment with an expert clinician, participants completed a battery of self-report measures to assess psychopathology, executive functioning, emotional dysregulation, and mind wandering. The rate of switching was examined using information from electronic medical records for up to three clinical follow-up visits. Those who did and did not need to switch were compared on baseline demographic and clinical characteristics.

Twenty-four percent (N = 21/86) of ADHD patients needed to switch from their initially prescribed stimulant family within 60 days of initiating treatment due to poor tolerability. While the rate of switching was significantly higher in those initially prescribed MPH, the rate of patients requiring changes in formulation or additional antianxiety or antidepressant treatment was higher in those taking AMPH. There were some hints about predictive risk factors for switching by the presence of emotional dysregulation and depressive symptoms, depending on age and sex.

These findings call for improved efforts to help identify predictors of response to stimulant treatment in adults with ADHD to avoid unnecessary delays in identifying safe and effective treatments for these patients.