Written by Hannah Harp
Spoon Feed
This is the AAP’s most recent clinical report on nonmedical prescription drug use (NMPDU) among adolescents and young adults. The report summarizes epidemiology, driving factors, risk and protective factors, morbidity and mortality, and prevention of NMPDU.
The highlights
- Rates of NMPDU among adolescents have fallen or stabilized for opioids, sedative-hypnotics, and stimulants over the past decade.
- NMPDU is more common among Latino, Black, and American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents, as well as among adolescents identifying as LGBTQIA2S.
- Opioid medications are most frequently taken from a family member or misused from a teen’s own prescription. Stimulants are more commonly acquired from friends or acquaintances.
- Protective factors include involvement in extracurricular activities, including most sports.
- Clinicians should be familiar with and use the prescription monitoring program in their state and should also ask about outside prescriptions of any of these medications (e.g. from ERs or specialists).
- Education should be provided to all guardians and adolescents prescribed controlled substances regarding safe storage, supervised access to medications, and proper disposal of excess medication.
- Clinicians should prescribe long-acting formulations of stimulants where able and should provide the shortest reasonable course if prescribing opioids or sedatives.
- Adolescents who are misusing prescription medications should be screened for anxiety, depression, ADHD, insomnia, and trauma.
- Adolescents who are prescribed opioids should be prescribed naloxone, and the guardian and patient should be educated on its use. Patients in which any NMPDU has been identified should be prescribed naloxone, regardless of class of medication being misused.
Source
Nonmedical Use of Controlled Medications by Adolescents and Young Adults: Clinical Report. Pediatrics. 2024 Dec 1;154(6):e2024069298. doi: 10.1542/peds.2024-069298. PMID: 39552240
