Do stimulant medications improve educational and behavioral outcomes for children with ADHD?

Abstract

We examine the effects of a policy change in the province of Quebec, Canada which greatly expanded insurance coverage for prescription medications. We show that the change was associated with a sharp increase in the use of stimulant medications commonly prescribed for ADHD in Quebec relative to the rest of Canada. We ask whether this increase in medication use was associated with improvements in emotional functioning or academic outcomes among children with ADHD. We find little evidence of improvement in either the medium or the long run. Our results are silent on the effects on optimal use of medication for ADHD, but suggest that expanding medication in a community setting had little positive benefit and may have had harmful effects given the average way these drugs are used in the community.

Keywords: ADHD; Children's mental health; Prescription drug coverage; Ritalin; Stimulants.

Figure 1. Stimulant use by survey year for Quebec versus the rest of Canada

Figure 2. Stimulant uptake patterns in Quebec versus rest of Canada

Figure 3. Ventilator use by survey year for Quebec versus the rest of Canada

Figure 4. Trends in Stimulant Use By Gender, Quebec vs. Rest of Canada