This page was translated automatically from Turkish. Read the original

This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

SO279

Associations of adolescent ADHD symptoms and medication history with cocaine use in young adulthood: a prospective cohort study based on hair toxicology

ASSOCIATION OF ADOLESCENT ADHD SYMPTOMS AND MEDICATION HISTORY WITH COCAINE USE IN YOUNG ADULTHOOD: A PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY USING HAIR TOXICOLOGY

Increasing ADHD symptoms during adolescence, later initiation of stimulant treatment, and short-term stimulant treatment are associated with a higher likelihood of cocaine use at age 24 confirmed by hair testing.

The study aimed to examine the associations of adolescent attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptom trajectories and stimulant medication history with cocaine use in young adulthood. In a community-based prospective cohort in Switzerland, 887 participants (48.3% female) were assessed at ages 13, 15, 17, 20, and 24. ADHD symptoms and medication history were repeatedly collected through self-report (SBQ), and medication use was classified by duration (never, at a single assessment, at multiple assessments) and age at initiation (never, at or before age 13, after age 13). Cumulative cocaine use over the preceding three months at age 24 was measured using hair toxicology, and latent change score and Bayesian lognormal hurdle models were used in the analysis. In the sample, 23.1% tested positive for cocaine in hair, and 8.3% reported stimulant medication use. Increasing ADHD symptoms during adolescence were associated with a higher likelihood of cocaine use in young adulthood (beta = 0.20; 95% credible interval [CrI] 0.01 to 0.39). Short-term stimulant use (beta = 0.80; 95% CrI 0.11 to 1.47) and later initiation of stimulant treatment (beta = 1.11; 95% CrI 0.42 to 1.81) were associated with a positive hair test, whereas no association was found for long-term use or early initiation. Models were adjusted for sex, education, household socioeconomic status, and migration background; no credible association was found in the lognormal component examining cocaine concentrations in positive samples. The authors suggest that early diagnosis and sustained ADHD treatment may be intervention targets for reducing the risk of transition to illicit stimulant use.

All WCP 2026 summaries