New medications in treating ADHD offer long-term benefits according to a research study. The study suggests that treating the disorder during early childhood can actually lessen risky behavior in adolescence.
The study, conducted in South Carolina between 2003 and 2013, involved about 150,000 children diagnosed with ADHD. Based on the study's analysis of Medicaid claims, the researchers learned that early treatment with ADHD medication made children less likely to suffer from the consequences of risky behaviors, including sexually transmitted diseases, injuries and substance abuse during their teenage years as cited on News At Princeton University.
The study's finding is undeniably significant because 11% of children in the US, aging 4 to 17, are diagnosed with ADHD. Nearly 70% of these children are treated with medications. ADHD children are prone to risky behaviors, including drug use, dangerous driving, and risky sexual behavior.
"ADHD is such a major issue, but no one seemed to be able to give a very definite answer to the long-term effect of the medication," says including Princeton University postdoctoral associate Dr. Anna Chorniy as cited on PsychCentral. Chorniy and her colleague, Leah Kitashima, conducted the research.
"For our sample population, we were able to see everyone who had an ADHD diagnosis and track their health over time to identify any potential benefits of the medication or the lack of thereof," Dr Chorniy added.
They made a comparative study between ADHD children who were given medication and those who were not. They found out that ADHD children with medication were 7.3 percentage points less likely to have a substance-abuse disorder, 3.6 percentage points less likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease, and 2.3 percentage points less likely to be injured.
According to Dr. Helena Skyt Nielsen, there are still quite a number of professionals and parents alike who still doubt the existence of beneficial long-term effects of ADHD medication. "Therefore, it is extremely important to collect more hard evidence on the impact of ADHD medication. Chorniy's paper is a great example that non-experimental impact assessments are very informative about the consequences of ADHD medication," Dr Nielsen, who is a professor at Aarhus University in Denmark as cited on ADDitude.
