Consistent use of ADHD medication may stun growth by 2 inches, large study finds

Conclusions Three broad conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, there was substantial persistence of ADHD symptoms into adulthood. Although not mean youth with ADHD continue to struggle with ADHD as adults, this is not a condition that most children simply outgrow. Rather, it is likely to be a chronic condition that must be managed effectively over time. Keeping effective treatment in place over many years, while extremely challenging, may often be necessary. Second, although the benefits of medication treatment on ADHD symptoms dissipate, the impact on adult stature persists. Consistent medication treatment through adolescence was not linked to reduced symptoms in young adulthood; unfortunately, however, it was associated with reduced adult height . The impact on height was not trivial, with average differences between Consistent and Negligible medication treatment groups of roughly 2 inches. One implication of this finding is that reducing medication dose, which can be done when medication is combined with behavior therapy, could be an effective way to mitigate adverse height outcomes. While these are interesting and important findings, caution is required in drawing certain conclusions. It would be erroneous to conclude that medication treatment has no long-term benefits as only core ADHD symptoms were examined. It remains possible that benefits on other important outcomes not examined here, e.g., educational attainment, work history, etc., were associated with co...
Source: SharpBrains - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Attention and ADD/ADHD Cognitive Neuroscience Education & Lifelong Learning Health & Wellness ADHD-symptoms ADHD-Treatment behavior-therapy Community Care medication-treatment MTA Study psychosocial stature Source Type: blogs