Treatment of ADHD with Drugs Ineffective, Says Report
According to new research, drugs are ultimately ineffective when it comes to treating children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, or ADHD. The situation for one child in particular will be highlighted on tonight’s edition of the BBC’s Panorama programme. The boy in question, Craig Buxton from Stoke on Trent, is now 14 years old, but has taken medication for ADHD since the age of four. In his case, it has not acted to quell his behaviour, which includes assaults on three school teachers.
ADHD Drugs Concerta and Ritalin No More Effective Than Therapy
Panorama’s researchers obtained a study on ADHD, in which treatment of the condition with drugs including Concerta and Ritalin was dismissed after three years use as offering no advantage over a therapeutic approach. It added that some evidence existed to link ADHD drugs to restricted development in children.
The study – entitled the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD – has been assessing the medication provided to 600 US ADHD children for approaching a decade.
1999 Report Advocated Drugs for ADHD Treatment
In 1999, it was announced that, after 12 months use, drugs could be considered a more effective treatment for ADHD than therapy. As a consequence, prescription rates for ADHD drugs in the UK skyrocketed. However, eight years later, the University of Buffalo’s Professor William Pelham – co-author of the report – conceded that “the beneficial impact of medication in the first study... (was)...exaggerated.”
He continued: “We had thought that children medicated longer would have better outcomes. That didn't happen to be the case. The children had a substantial decrease in their rate of growth so they weren't growing as much as other kids both in terms of their height and in terms of their weight.
"And the second was that there were no beneficial effects - none."
According to Panorama, Concerta and Ritalin, among others, were prescribed to approximately 55,000 UK children in 2006.
ADHD is a neurobiological psychiatric disorder - one of the most frequently diagnosed within its group. Symptoms include inattention, impulsiveness and a desire to be ‘heard’.
Source – Pharmaceutical International’s Health Reporter
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