Editorial: A Spoonful of Injury Prevention Makes the ADHD Medicine Go Down

Abstract

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of disability and mortality in youths across the United States¹ and globally.² Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with an increased rate of unintentional injuries in multiple countries, as reviewed in a recent meta-analysis of studies in youths.³ The study by Ghirardi et al.⁴ in this issue of the Journal adds to this literature by examining this issue within stratifications of injury and of characteristics of youths with ADHD.⁴ The authors accessed a very large sample (nearly 2 million youths) drawn from the Truven Health MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters databases. They identified all youths in the databases with a diagnosis of ADHD or receiving an ADHD medication prescription from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2014, who presented to an emergency department with unintentional injuries. To determine the differential rate of unintentional injuries, they used a case-control methodology to compare youths with a diagnosis of ADHD or an ADHD medication with a control group of youths without an ADHD diagnosis or treatment matched on a variety of characteristics. Results of the population comparison not only supported the overall association, but also demonstrated an increased rate of unintentional injuries for both boys and girls and that youths with ADHD had higher rates of traumatic brain injury compared with matched control youths without ADHD.⁴.