Riverina children use more drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than those from many other regional areas in the state and at 10 times the rate of some parts of Sydney.

According to the division of general practice's statistics, 867 children under 14 received a script for medication for ADHD in the Riverina in 2005.

Given the most recent Australia Bureau of Statistics data show there are 25,474 in this age group in the Riverina, it means one script was issued for every 30 children in the area.

Normal medication levels for a child diagnosed with ADHD require about two scripts a year, indicating one in every 60 children in the Riverina is on medication for the disorder.

Across the state, the rate ranges from one in 34 in the Central West, to one in 90 in the Southeast NSW Division of General Practice. Only one in 600 children in the affluent northern Sydney region is on medication for the condition.

The figures are from pharmaceutical benefit scheme prescriptions to children under 14 for the ADHD drugs dexamphetamine and methylphenidate, marketed as Ritalin.

ADHD expert Brenton Prosser found in his studies that diagnosis and medical treatment is greater in areas of lower income and higher unemployment.

"This is because there are not adequate services available," the University of South Australia academic said.

"There isn't that range of services in rural areas, so medication is viewed as the only treatment."

He said that treatment including counselling on conflict management skills, anger resolution and remedial literacy and speech therapy had proven more beneficial than solely using medication.

By Carlin HURDIS

Daily Advertiser

June 19, 2006