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As ADHD kids grow up, they take treatments into workplace

NEW YORK - Like dormitories and dining halls, Adderall was something Cory Clair figured he would leave behind in college.

But when he went off the medication and started a new job in January, his mind began wandering at work - just as it did in class before he was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and prescribed the drug, a common treatment for a related problem, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.

"I thought I'd have it for school, and then I'd be out and wouldn't need it anymore," said Clair, who works in public relations in New York. "I was wrong."

After a few months of struggling to pay attention to coworkers and complete assignments on time, Clair finally made an appointment with a doctor and renewed his Adderall prescription, which his health insurance covers.

"The difference is remarkable," Clair said. "When you're on it, you stay focused on what you're doing."

The kids of the ADHD drug boom are growing up, and some are finding that what they thought would be a school-age ailment may in fact last a lifetime. As they enter the workforce - and as older people are increasingly diagnosed - drugs for the disorder are becoming common in the workplace.

ADHD is seen in 3 percent to 5 percent of children, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. About half continue to experience symptoms into adulthood, said Louis Kraus, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Rush Medical Center in Chicago. Symptoms include distraction, forgetfulness, fidgeting, impulsivity and disorganization.

ADHD drug sales have skyrocketed in recent years, and pharmaceutical companies are increasingly marketing their drugs to adults. U.S. retail sales of the total ADHD drug market more than tripled between 2000 and 2004, according to health care information company Verispan. From 2003 to 2004, U.S. sales of Adderall XR grew nearly 40 percent, while U.S. sales of Eli Lilly & Co.'s drug Strattera, which came out in 2002, nearly doubled.

Experts disagree on whether the surge in sales is due to better recognition and publicity of the disorder, or doctors prescribing the drugs too leniently.

Some adult users adopt a "pseudo-doctor" role, illegally lending their medication to friends and colleagues that they believe need it, Kraus said.

ADHD drug abuse isn't as rampant in the workplace as it is on college campuses, where it's estimated that one in five students has abused prescription stimulants to study or get high. But it does exist, notably among bankers, stock brokers and others in high-pressure, long-hour positions, said Punyamurtula Kishore, president and director of the National Library of Addictions in Brookline, Mass.

[Last modified May 11, 2005, 00:47:09]