AFSPIL Fall 2024 Research Connection

The AFSP Illinois Chapter welcomes Dr. Brian D'Onofrio, PhD., who will present on "The Benefits & Risks of ADHD Medication: Evidence from Real-World Practice"
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the most common neurodevelopmental disorder, is associated with impaired socioemotional functioning, increased risk behaviors, substance problems, and suicidality. Thus, determining the most effective treatment for ADHD is an important public health priority. ADHD treatment guidelines recommend pharmacotherapy, such as stimulant medications, frequently in combination with behavioral treatments. These recommendations are largely based randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that have documented large effects of medications on ADHD symptoms. Although RCTs are considered the gold standard for evaluating medications, it is not feasible or ethical to conduct a trial of sufficient duration, size, and generalizability to evaluate serious outcomes among diverse populations. One increasingly recognized approach to address these issues is the analysis of administrative healthcare data to generate “real-world evidence.” This presentation will describe how large-scale observational studies by our team and others have extended the findings from RCTs of ADHD medications. Analyses of nation-wide samples in the US and Sweden using advanced analytic approaches and design features, such as the comparison of risks within individuals, have demonstrated functional benefits of ADHD medications. For example, stimulant medications were associated with fewer substance problems, suicidal behaviors, and other impairing behavioral outcomes.
Workshop Objectives
1. Participants will be able to describe several of the key advantages and disadvantages of studying the effects of AHD medications using observational studies.
2. Participants will be able to summarize the main findings of our large-scale observational study that examined the effects of ADHD medication on substance problems and suicide attempts.
3. Participants will be able to provide examples of how researchers have used such designs to study a range of important public health outcomes, including injuries and criminality.
Speaker Biography
Dr. Brian D’Onofrio received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Psychology from the University of Virginia. He has been a professor at Indiana University - Bloomington since 2005. Dr. D’Onofrio’s research seeks to understand the etiology, assessment, and treatment of mental health and substance use problems across the lifespan using multiple approaches. His recent research has focused on exploring the risks and benefits of psychiatric and pain medications, particularly for rare-but-serious outcomes such as drug overdose, suicidal behavior, and traumatic brain injury. Furthermore, his research seeks to better understand health disparities, particularly among vulnerable and marginalized groups of children and adolescents. Most of his research consists of secondary data analysis of large datasets (e.g., US health insurance claims datasets of tens of millions of people and national Swedish datasets). Finally, he also conducts intervention and health services research, examining how to best assess behavioral health problems in community settings.