American scientists conducting the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) has found that while drugs such as Ritalin and Concerta can work well in the short term they have no benefit long term and have been found to stunt growth.
The new research contradicts previous opinions on the effectiveness of ADHA drugs. The scientist who have been monitoring 600 children concluded in 1999 that medication worked better than behavioral therapy for ADHD. The conclusion led to changes in medical practices and increased prescription rates dramatically.
The report's co-author, Professor William Pelham, of the University of Buffalo, said: "I think we exaggerated the beneficial impact of medication in the first study. We had thought that children medicated longer would have better outcomes. That didn't happen to be the case. The children had a substantial decrease in their rate of growth, so they weren't growing as much as other kids in terms of both their height and their weight. And the second was that there were no beneficial effects - none. In the short run [medication] will help the child behave better, in the long run it won't. And that information should be made very clear to parents."
[Source: Guardian Unlimited]
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