AHRQ and FDA To Collaborate in Largest Study Ever of Possible Heart Risks with ADHD Medications

Press Release Date: September 17, 2007

Two U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agencies will collaborate in the most comprehensive study to date of prescription medications used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the potential for increased risk of heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular problems.

Researchers supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will examine the clinical data of about 500,000 children and adults who have taken medications used to treat ADHD to determine whether those drugs increase cardiovascular risks.

Because medications used to treat ADHD can increase heart rate and blood pressure, there are concerns about the drugs' potential to increase cardiac risks. It is also thought these risks may be different for adults and children, but more evidence is needed about the long-term effects of using ADHD medications.

We receive great questions everyday from our readers, parents just like you, who are looking for a bit of advice or encouragement.

Be sure to visit the ADHD Information Library to see these questions, and our answers, to see if they may be helpful to you!

The Questions and Answers section is added to weekly, and some of the questions can be viewed on the home page. Here are two recent questions:

Hi my daughter who is four and soon to be five in November, her teachers at school are saying she has classic signs of adhd. I always have known shes been QUITE active.Is that to early to determine this. If not whats the best way to treat this without drugs at such a young age..

Thanks - A Concerned Mother

Read Dr. Cowan's Answer...

And

My son can't do any of the stimulants for his ADHD. The dr's have him on Wellbutrin. Would the caffeine still be ok for him to use or is that just going to make him go off the wall? He likes coffee and the protein shake sounds like something he would love. Thanks!

Read Dr. Cowan's Answer...

A new study reports some attention getting numbers. The first is that about 9% of children in the United States have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - ADHD. The second number is that only about 1/3 of them are getting medical treatment.

There have been a number of similar studies done through the years, but this study is considered important because it used the most modern diagnostic criteria for ADHD today, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition.

The ADHD Information Library has written and maintained for years that about 5% of children in the US had ADHD, and that it has been both "over-diagnosed" and "under-diagnosed."

Over-diagnosed in the sense that often the medical evaluations leading to a diagnosis don't consider the differential diagnoses that need to be ruled out before diagnosing ADHD, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, head injuries, tourette's syndrome, bipolar disorder, and more (see http://newideas.net/adhd/differential- diagnosis ). Our concern is that this study may have fallen into the same trap. Simply reporting that 9% of children meet the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD is not the same as 9% of the kids having ADHD. Rather, many children who meet the criteria for ADHD actually have some other disorder.