Implications
In combination, the scenarios developed here strongly suggest that the trend of rising drug expenditures for ADHD may not abate in the near future (Figure 3).
They further indicate that physicians involved in providing care for children and adolescents with ADHD should anticipate escalating expenditures and challenging questions from payers (Figure 5). In particular for German child and adolescent psychiatrists, as well as for pediatricians in private practice, there will be a growing need to demonstrate appropriate prescribing practices and the achievement of clinical benefits commensurate with levels of spending.
Likewise, pharmaceutical manufacturers developing and selling products for the treatment of patients with ADHD will need to produce timely evidence supporting the economic value of their products.
Finally, it should be noted that the present study was limited to ADHD in children and adolescents age 6 to 18 years. There is reason to assume that adult ADHD may be associated with substantial spending dynamics, which has only just begun to show [73]. This fact, however, lends further support to the key conclusion of the present study, namely, that there will be a rapidly growing need for health economic evidence on the value of clinical interventions for ADHD.