title: A Survival Analysis of Psychostimulant Prescriptions in New South Wales from 1990 to 2010.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Psychostimulant medication is considered a mainstay in the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, research suggests that the typical duration of medication treatment for children and youth may be <3 years. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychostimulant treatment persistence for children and adolescents in New South Wales, Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study used survival analysis to assess duration of medication treatment on a large administrative database of children and youth from New South Wales, Australia. Several models were fit to evaluate differences in survival rates among decades (1990-1999 vs. 2000-2010), gender, and age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed that: 1) Overall median treatment time (i.e., median survival time) was 1.96 years (99% CI=1.93, 1.99); 2) there were small, but significant changes over time in duration of treatment; 3) females had shorter treatment duration than males; and 4) there were relatively large differences in treatment duration across age groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that the majority of children and youth receive medication treatment for only a small portion of childhood/adolescence, and that there are differential patterns in treatment duration across age groups.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, University of Nebraska , Lincoln, Nebraska.
authors.forename: Matthew C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, University of Nebraska , Lincoln, Nebraska.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.affiliation: 2 Faculty of Health, University of Canberra , Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia .
authors.forename: Brenton
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Prosser
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida , Gainesville, Florida.
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bussing
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009517:New South Wales; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants