Large increase of the use of psycho-stimulants among youth in the Netherlands between 1996 and 2006.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the use of psycho-stimulants in the Netherlands between 1996 and 2006 in children and adolescents, and in relation to age and sex.


METHODS
With the pharmacy prescription database the IADB.nl, yearly prevalences of psycho-stimulants per 1000 children were calculated, as was the length of psycho-stimulant use with Kaplan-Meier method in SPSS 12.0.


RESULTS
Psycho-stimulant use increased in boys (0-19) from 4.5 per thousand in 1996 to 31.1 per thousand in 2006 and for girls from 0.7 to 8.1 per thousand, respectively. The largest increase was among boys aged 10-19 years. There is a trend towards prescribing the sustained release preparation of methylphenidate (Concerta).


CONCLUSIONS
In the Netherlands a large increase in psycho-stimulants use is observed. However, in the Netherlands the prevalence ratio male/female declined from 6.4 in 1996 to 3.8 in 2006.
Department of Pharmacy, Groningen University, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Anne-Marie
AM
Trip
Sipke T
ST
Visser
Luuk J
LJ
Kalverdijk
Lolkje T W
LT
de Jong-van den Berg
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008774:Methylphenidate / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D009426:Netherlands; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000639:trends*; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D008774:Methylphenidate