Study supports stimulants for hyperactive children

EDT CHICAGO (Reuter) Swedish researchers defended the longterm
use of stimulants in children with attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD)Sunday, saying positive effects lasted for more than a
year. Amphetamines helped calm the children and also helped them
score higher on IQ tests, they reported in the Archives of General
Psychiatry, issued by the American Medical Association. Stimulants
have been used to treat ADHD, also known more simply as Attention
Deficit Disorder, for 60 years but previous studies have been limited
to showing theireffectiveness only in the short run. The most
commonly used drug is methylphenidate, sold as Ritalin by Novartis
and under generic formulations by several other companies.
Christopher Gillberg and colleagues at the University of Goteborg
studied 62 children between the ages of 6 and 11 who showed symptoms
of hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder. Some were treated
with amphetamines while others in the group received placebos. ``The
mean change in IQ from zero to 15 months was plus 4.5 for the group
treated with amphetamines for nine months or more, and plus 0.7 in
the group receiving placebo for six months or more,'' the study said.
The authors said the study showed that longterm amphetamine use
shows promising results for both home and school settings. However,
they said more research is needed. Many of the children showed poor
appetite after six months not surprising, as amphetamines were
once used as appetite suppressants. Howard Morris, president of the
National Attention Deficit Disorder Association, said there had been
some controversy over the use of amphetamines in children but only
in that there were fears they were being prescribed to children who
did not have the disorder. ``Often in a matter of a short office
visit the patient is walking out of there with a prescription for
ritalin or some other psychostimulants,'' he said. He said the
symptoms are often similar to symptoms for depression, malnutrition
or stress. ``We support the idea that medication is not a silver
bullet to address ADD,'' he added. A second study in the same journal
looked at troublesome boys who do not have ADHD and found more
inhibited boys were more likely to become delinquents. Margaret Kerr
and colleagues at the University of Montreal studied 778 boys from
the region. ``Disruptivewithdrawn boys are likely to become
delinquentdepressed,'' they wrote. ``They are, in fact, 3.21 times
more at risk.'' ^REUTER@