ADHD Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about ADHD, including details on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, drugs, treatment, symptoms. | ||||||||
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Drug preferences in illicit drug abusers with a childhood tendency of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a study using the Wender Utah Rating Scale in a Japanese prison.Matsumoto T, Yamaguchi A, Asami T, Kamijo A, Iseki E, Hirayasu Y, Wada K Division of Forensic Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Chiba, Japan. tmatsu@ncnp-k.go.jp The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between childhood tendencies of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) and illicit drug abuse in Japanese prisoners, and to clarify whether drug abusers with AD/HD prefer methamphetamine (MAP) more than other illicit drugs. The Japanese version of the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS), which is a self-reporting instrument to retrospectively identify childhood tendencies of AD/HD tendencies, was carried given to 413 prisoners without a drug addiction and 282 prisoners with a drug addiction (192, MAP; 53, toluene; and 37, cannabis). WURS scores were compared between prisoners with and without a drug addiction, and between MAP, toluene, and cannabis abusers. Consequently, prisoners with a drug addiction showed significantly higher WURS scores than those without the addiction (P < 0.001). Toluene abusers showed significantly higher WURS scores than cannabis abusers (P < 0.001), and included a higher proportion with scores over cut-off than MAP or cannabis abusers (P = 0.005). In conclusion, a close relationship existed between illicit drug abuse and childhood AD/HD tendencies. Drug-abusing prisoners with AD/HD tendencies were not prone to choose MAP over other illicit drugs. Published 17 May 2005 in Psychiatry Clin Neurosci, 59(3): 311-8.
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