ADHD Medication is Safe for Kids, No Heart Risks in Short-Term Use

Stimulants used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are safe for children in the short-term and do not increase the risk of deadly heart conditions, according to a new study.

ADHD is one of the most common neurobehavioral disorders of childhood. Nearly one in 11 children in the country suffer from the disorder that is associated with problems with paying attention, difficulty in controlling impulsive behaviors and hyper activity.

A team of researchers from University of Florida analyzed the negative impact of children taking central nervous system stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin to treat ADHD. Almut Winterstein and colleagues found one in 30,000 children experiencing severe cardiac events like sudden cardiac death, heart attack or stroke, resulting from a heart disease.

She didn't find an increased risk of severe cardiac events associated with children following a stimulant drug medication for a short period.

The present study is a re-confirmation of Winterstein's 2007 investigation, published in Pediatrics that examined the safety of the ADHD stimulants in 55,000 children aged between three and 20. All the participants were under Medicaid and following treatment for ADHD between 1994 and 2004.

The study, found 20 percent increase in children's visits to emergency clinic or doctor for cardiac related problems. No high risk associated with the medications like hospital admission or death was found.

The current study included larger participants, 1.2 million youths receiving Medicaid in 28 states. The researchers referred a similar study conducted by Dr. William O. Cooper and published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2011.

"We complemented Dr. Cooper's study by utilizing Medicaid patients who are typically more vulnerable and at higher risk for serious adverse events," Winterstein said in a news release. "This allowed us to examine patients with severe underlying heart conditions who received stimulants."

However, the study couldn't prove safety of the drugs when used long-term.

"Neither of the studies was able to answer what happens in the long term," Winterstein said. "It's an important issue to address, but we won't be able to answer the question until this generation of ADHD children, who began using stimulant drugs in the 1990s, reaches adulthood into their 50s, 60s and 70s."

Results of the study have been published in the British Medical Journal.