ADHD Medications May Lower Risk of Unintentional Injuries in Children, Adolescents With ADHD

Medication for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may help lower the risk of unintentional injuries in children and adolescents with ADHD, astudy in theJournal of the American Academy of Child& Adolescent Psychiatryhas found.“[Prior studies] suggest that ADHD is associated with a 40% to 50% increase in the risk of injuries in children and adolescents. Pharmacological treatment for ADHD has been reported to be effective for core symptoms and cognitive deficits associated with ADHD. Hence it may be hypothesized that, by reducing distractibility, impulsivity, and overactivity, ADHD medication may prevent unintentional injuries,” Laura Ghirardi, M.Sc., of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and colleagues wrote.To test their hypotheses, the researchers analyzed prescription and health data from more than 1.9 million children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years who had either been diagnosed with ADHD or received a prescription for ADHD medication between 2005 and 2014. They followed the participants for a median of 15 to 17 months and tracked emergency department visits for injuries with an unintentional cause, including traumatic brain injuries. During the follow-up period, 87,154 study participants had at least one emergency department visit for an unintentional injury.The researchers found that participants who were taking ADHD medications (based on prescription claims data) were 13% to 15% less likely to have unintentional injuries during the follow-up p...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: ADHD ADHD medication attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder injury Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Source Type: research