Maternal ADHD and Perinatal Prescription Stimulant Use

• Published in: Journal of attention disorders 2022-08, Vol.26 (10), p.1347-1356
• Main Authors: Murugappan, Meena N., Westberg, Sarah M., Contag, Stephen, Melnik, Tanya E., Kumar, Arun, Rajpurohit, Abhijeet, Thorsness, Katie, Farley, Joel F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1087-0547; 1557-1246
• DOI: 10.1177/10870547211073472

Objective: To describe patterns and predictors of perinatal prescription stimulant use. Methods: We used MarketScan® commercial claims data (2013–2018) and a repeated cross-sectional study design to assess perinatal use of prescription stimulants. Clinical/demographic characteristics were compared across cohorts of women who continued versus discontinued stimulant treatment at various stages of pregnancy. Associations were tested for significance using chi-square tests (categorical variables) and independent t-tests (continuous variables). Results: Out of 612,001 pregnancies, 15,413 involved pre-pregnancy stimulant use. Of these, stimulant treatment was discontinued prior to conception in 6,416 (42%), discontinued during trimester 1 in 5,977 (39%), and continued into later trimesters in 3,020 (19%). Compared with pregnancies involving stimulant discontinuation prior to conception, those that continued into pregnancy occurred in women who were older (29.9 vs. 28.9 years) and had more severe ADHD (3.1 vs. 1.8 ADHD-related billing claims). Conclusions: There is considerable heterogeneity in the management of ADHD during pregnancy.