Overview

• Early treatment within three months of diagnosis was associated with adjusted two-year reductions of about 17% in suicidal behavior, 15% in substance misuse, 12% in transport accidents and 13% in criminal convictions.
• Patients with prior incidents saw even larger benefits, including 25% fewer repeat substance-misuse events and criminal convictions along with 15% fewer recurrent suicide attempts.
• Stimulant drugs, led by methylphenidate, showed stronger links to reduced harms than non-stimulant therapies across all measured outcomes.
• Researchers applied target trial emulation to Swedish health and crime registers covering 148,581 people but cautioned that observational data cannot definitively prove causation.
• Results intensify debates over prescribing patterns and access to care and point to the importance of randomized trials to address questions of adherence, dosage and international applicability.