Characterizing Prescription Stimulant Use in Adults with Overdose Involving Psychostimulants

The objective of this brief report is to characterize the use of prescription stimulants in adults with psychostimulant-related overdose in the United States amid the rising prevalence of stimulant prescriptions and stimulant-related overdose deaths. Using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision coding system, we identified adults with diagnoses related to overdose involving psychostimulants between 2010 and 2022 and used descriptive statistics to characterize these individuals. The analysis included 15,744 adults with stimulant-related overdoses (16.5% intentional, 83.5% unintentional). We found that 17.7% of adults with stimulant-related overdose events had a previous stimulant prescription. Nearly half of those with a stimulant-related overdose had a previously identified mental health disorder (49.9%) or substance use disorder (43.2%). The prevalence of overdose in high-risk adult populations highlights the need for additional safety interventions. Risk-benefit analysis and tailored guidelines for prescribing stimulants, especially in populations with mental health or substance use disorders, are warranted to mitigate overdose risk and enhance patient safety.