Overview
- The peer-reviewed analysis in JAMA Network Open used Ontario’s Narcotics Monitoring System to study more than 15 million residents, finding 591,224 people (4%) received at least one stimulant prescription.
- Annual growth accelerated after 2020 to roughly 28–29% per year, compared with about 7% per year from 2015 to 2019.
- The largest relative increases were in females aged 25–44 (+421.3%) and 18–24 (+368.7%), and by 2023 many adult female groups surpassed males in prescription prevalence.
- By the end of the study period, 6.7% of females aged 18–24 had a stimulant prescription in the past year versus 5.2% of males the same age.
- Authors and experts cite greater awareness, pandemic-era online discourse, and virtual assessments as possible contributors, while warning about misdiagnosis risks and urging monitoring, training, and research to manage potential adverse effects.