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Prevalence of Prescription Stimulant Misuse High in U.S. Adults

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on April 1, 2025.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, April 1, 2025 -- The prevalence of prescription stimulant misuse and prescription stimulant use disorder (PSUD) is high among U.S. adults aged 18 to 64 years, according to a study published online March 19 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Beth Han, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional survey study to examine trends in dispensed stimulants and prescription stimulants from 2019 through 2022, as well as the prevalence of misuse and PSUD. A total of 83,762 adults aged 18 to 64 years were sampled.

The researchers found that 25.3 percent of those using prescription stimulants reported misuse and 9.0 percent had PSUD. Among those with PSUD, 72.9, 87.1, 42.5, and 63.6 percent solely used their own prescribed stimulants, used amphetamines, reported no misuse, and had mild PSUD, respectively. Higher prevalence ratios were seen for misuse and PSUD among those using amphetamines versus those using methylphenidate (3.1 and 2.2, respectively). Women aged 35 to 64 years had the largest increase in the number of individuals dispensed prescription stimulants, from 1.2 million in quarter 1 of 2019 to 1.7 million in quarter 4 of 2022. Compared with other sex- and age-specific subgroups, the prevalence of prescription stimulant misuse was lower among women aged 35 to 64 years using these medications (13.7 percent compared with 22.0 to 36.8 percent for men aged 35 to 64 years and women aged 18 to 25 years, respectively).

"We found that among U.S. adults aged 18 to 64 years using prescription stimulants, one-fourth reported misuse, and nearly one-tenth had PSUD," the authors write.

One author disclosed long-term stock holdings in General Electric, 3M Companies, and Pfizer, outside the submitted work.

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

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Posted April 2025

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