MONDAY, June 15, 2009 (Health.com) — After years of speculation and rare case reports, a study suggests that stimulant medication—mostly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—may have played a role in a handful of cases of sudden, unexplained death in children and adolescents.
The study authors stress, however, that parents and doctors should not refrain from treating children with ADHD just because of these results.
“The association is significant in that it’s real, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a very low risk,” says lead author Madelyn S. Gould, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and public health at Columbia University, in New York. “There probably does need to be more careful monitoring, but the bottom line is that parents should not take their children off stimulant medication they’re currently on and should not be scared to have their child go on a stimulant if that’s what they and their doctors decide is the best thing for their child.”
The study, published this week in the American Journal of Psychiatry, is the first to suggest that the stimulants may pose a risk—albeit remote—in children without underlying heart problems. About 2.5 million children in the United States take such medications.
Next page: Stimulants linked to 1.8% of unexplained deaths
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