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. 2009 Jul;124(1):71-8.
doi: 10.1542/peds.2008-3347.

Do stimulants protect against psychiatric disorders in youth with ADHD? A 10-year follow-up study

Joseph Biederman  1 , Michael C Monuteaux, Thomas Spencer, Timothy E Wilens, Stephen V Faraone
Affiliations

Do stimulants protect against psychiatric disorders in youth with ADHD? A 10-year follow-up study

Joseph Biederman et al. Pediatrics. 2009 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: Little is known about the effect of stimulant treatment in youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on the subsequent development of comorbid psychiatric disorders. We tested the association between stimulant treatment and the subsequent development of psychiatric comorbidity in a longitudinal sample of patients with ADHD.

Methods: We conducted a case-control, 10-year prospective follow-up study into young-adult years of youth with ADHD. At baseline, we assessed consecutively referred white male children with (n = 140) and without (n = 120) ADHD, aged 6 to 18 years. At the 10-year follow-up, 112 (80%) and 105 (88%) of the children in the ADHD and control groups, respectively, were reassessed (mean age: 22 years). We examined the association between stimulant treatment in childhood and adolescence and subsequent comorbid disorders and grade retention by using proportional hazards survival models.

Results: Of the 112 participants with ADHD, 82 (73%) were previously treated with stimulants. Participants with ADHD who were treated with stimulants were significantly less likely to subsequently develop depressive and anxiety disorders and disruptive behavior and less likely to repeat a grade compared with participants with ADHD who were not treated.

Conclusions: We found evidence that stimulant treatment decreases the risk for subsequent comorbid psychiatric disorders and academic failure in youth with ADHD.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: : Dr. Joseph Biederman is currently receiving research support from the following sources: Alza, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Co., Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., McNeil, Merck, Organon, Otsuka, Shire, NIMH, and NICHD.

Dr. Joseph Biederman is currently a consultant/advisory board member for the following pharmaceutical companies: Janssen, McNeil, Novartis, and Shire.

Dr. Joseph Biederman is currently a speaker for the following speaker’s bureaus: Janssen, McNeil, Novartis, Shire, and UCB Pharma, Inc.

In previous years, Dr. Joseph Biederman received research support, consultation fees, or speaker’s fees for/from the following additional sources: Abbott, AstraZeneca, Celltech, Cephalon, Eli Lilly and Co., Esai, Forest, Glaxo, Gliatech, NARSAD, NIDA, New River, Novartis, Noven, Neurosearch, Pfizer, Pharmacia, The Prechter Foundation, The Stanley Foundation, and Wyeth.

Dr. Michael Monuteaux participated in a symposium sponsored by Shire, Inc.

Dr. Thomas Spencer receives research support from the following sources: Shire Laboratories Inc, Cephalon, Eli Lilly & Company, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Janssen, McNeil Pharmaceutical, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, and NIMH.

Dr. Thomas Spencer is a speaker for the following speaker’s bureaus: Shire Laboratories, Inc, Eli Lilly & Company, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Janssen, McNeil Pharmaceutical, Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Thomas Spencer is on the advisory board for the following pharmaceutical companies: Shire Laboratories Inc, Cephalon, Eli Lilly & Company, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Janssen, McNeil Pharmaceutical, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and Pfizer.

Dr. Timothy Wilens receives grant support from the following sources: Abbott, McNeil, Lilly, NIH(NIDA), Merck, and Shire.

Dr. Timothy Wilens is a speaker for the following speaker’s bureaus: Lilly, McNeil, Novartis, and Shire.

Dr. Timothy Wilens is a consultant for: Abbott, McNeil, Lilly, NIH (NIDA), Novartis, Merck, Shire.

Dr. Faraone reports having received lecture fees and research funding from Pfizer, and consulting and research funding from Shire.

References

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