{"id":61455,"date":"2013-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-researcher-college-students-face-risks-from-misuse-of-prescription-stimulants\/"},"modified":"2013-10-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-10-01T00:00:00","slug":"uri-researcher-college-students-face-risks-from-misuse-of-prescription-stimulants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/10\/uri-researcher-college-students-face-risks-from-misuse-of-prescription-stimulants\/","title":{"rendered":"äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾ researcher: College students face risks from misuse of prescription stimulants"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGTON, R.I. \u2013 October 1, 2013 \u2013 Misuse of prescription stimulants by students has become a fact of life on college campuses as some students seek every advantage they can to succeed. Prescription stimulants such as Adderall have been shown to improve symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but there is limited evidence the drugs enhance the cognitive abilities of college students without ADHD. There is evidence, however, that they can pose serious health risks.<\/p>\n


\n\tIn a systematic review of hundreds of research studies on prescription stimulants and the misuse of drugs prescribed for those with ADHD, äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾ Psychology Professor Lisa Weyandt found that between 5 and 35 percent of college students without ADHD reported taking the stimulants.<\/p>\n


\n\tHer paper was published this week in the Journal of Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cStudents without ADHD are taking these stimulants thinking that it\u2019s going to enhance their academic performance, but we don\u2019t have the scientific evidence to support this,\u201d said Weyandt, who has studied ADHD for more than 25 years. \u201cIt may increase their ability to focus, but it doesn\u2019t make them more intelligent or a superior reader. They may complete their assignments, but the quality of their work may not be any better, and it may be making it worse. In some cases prescription stimulants can actually impede their ability to do their work by causing them to over-focus and fixate on one part of the assignment.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWeyandt said those at the greatest risk for misusing stimulants are members of sororities and fraternities \u2013 perhaps because it is more accepted in that subculture, perhaps because of peer pressure or social modeling \u2013 and also students with lower grade point averages or greater levels of internal restlessness, stress, anxiety or depression. Most students reported taking the drugs \u201cas needed\u201d to complete academic projects or during exam periods. Her research also indicates that most students obtain the medication from friends or peers and are taking doses based on what others are taking, a practice she said is \u201cclearly problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tAccording to Weyandt, prescription stimulants are effective at reducing the symptoms of ADHD in those who have been diagnosed with the disorder. The drugs stimulate the central nervous system and target neurotransmitter systems in the prefrontal cortex and striatum areas of the brain, resulting in increased abilities to sustain attention, reduced impulsivity, and improvements in organizational and planning skills. In studies of rats and mice, researchers found that brain cells respond more quickly when the medications were present, increased the creation of new cells, and increased protein production in brain cells.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cBut in young rats the stimulants also caused harmful effects to brain cells, but not in adult rats,\u201d Weyandt said. \u201cCould the medication be causing other harmful effects at the cellular level that isn\u2019t readily observable with our current technology? We know the stimulants can improve aspects of cognition in those with ADHD, but research is limited regarding possible detrimental effects on the brain of those without the disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWeyandt and her graduate students are studying the misuse of stimulants among other populations as well and finding that it isn\u2019t just a problem among undergraduates. They recently found that about 6 percent of graduate students in a wide variety of academic programs in five regions of the United States also reported misusing the stimulants within the past year, and 17 percent reported misusing them sometime in their lifetime. She hopes to study the rate of prescription stimulant use in the workplace, too.<\/p>\n


\n\tHer biggest concern, however, is that college students are placing themselves in danger by taking stimulants without a prescription.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThere are known cardiac effects associated with these medications, such as tachycardia and increased blood pressure, and if you have an underlying heart problem the risks are even greater,\u201d she said. \u201cThey also cause a decrease in appetite and difficulty sleeping, and I\u2019m concerned that students are taking these medications without being monitored by a physician. In addition to the potential health risks, they\u2019re doing it all without evidence that it\u2019s truly enhancing their cognitive abilities or improving their academic performance. The risks outweigh the benefits.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tWeyandt and her research team of undergraduate and graduate students are preparing to launch a study this fall to help address the misuse of prescription stimulants among college students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGTON, R.I. \u2013 October 1, 2013 \u2013 Misuse of prescription stimulants by students has become a fact of life on college campuses as some students seek every advantage they can to succeed. Prescription stimulants such as Adderall have been shown to improve symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but there is limited evidence the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61455\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}