Hinsdale Central High School, Hinsdale, Illinois, USA.
Program on Medicines and Public Health, Alfred Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
BMJ Paediatr Open. 2024 May 31;8(1):e002632. doi: 10.1136/bmjpo-2024-002632.
The impact of schools closing for in-person instruction in the USA during the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of prescription medications is not known. In this study, we examined changes in the total prescriptions filled, specifically for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications, among school-aged children and adolescents aged 10-19 years during periods before and after complete school closures between October 2019 and September 2022. Our findings indicate that complete school closures were associated with declines in the use of ADHD medications among younger populations in the USA. These findings suggest that the underuse of ADHD medications may be an overlooked contributor to declines in academic performance observed during periods of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
在美国 COVID-19 大流行期间关闭学校对处方药使用的影响尚不清楚。在这项研究中，我们研究了 2019 年 10 月至 2022 年 9 月期间完全关闭学校前后，10-19 岁学龄儿童和青少年的总处方量（特别是注意力缺陷多动障碍 (ADHD) 药物）的变化。我们的研究结果表明，美国完全关闭学校与 ADHD 药物使用率的下降有关，特别是在年轻人群中。这些发现表明，在 COVID-19 大流行期间学校关闭期间观察到的学业成绩下降，可能是 ADHD 药物使用不足的一个被忽视的原因。
