A dot plot showing the fraction of children who received a given psychotropic medication in the year 2019. Prescribing rates for methylphenidate and melatonin are very high for children with ADHD, and for children with both ADHD and autism. Risperidone prescriptions are more than twice as high for children with both autism and ADHD, compared to children with either condition alone.
Data are based on 10,209 autistic children, 5,970 children with ADHD and 2,064 with both conditions living in New Zealand and aged between 0 and 18 years. Control refers to 1,156,296 children without a diagnosis of either autism or ADHD. Percentages refer to the fraction of children in each group who were prescribed a given medication in 2019.