A Panorama investigation has revealed that ADHD drugs are beneficial in the short-term only.

Drugs widely used to treat Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) don’t work in the long-term, according to research released this week.

The Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA) has discovered that whilst drugs like Ritalin and Concerta can work in the short-term, there is no improvement in children’s behaviour after staying on medication for three years.

Children who stay on drugs for the full period were also found to have stunted growth.

The findings were broadcast on BBC show Panorama on 12 November. The UK Department of Health has not confirmed how many children are on ADHD medication but, according to the BBC, GPs in the UK prescribed powerful drugs like Ritalin and Concerta to around 55,000 children last year. Many stay on these drugs for years at a time.

Increased antipsychotic drug usage

Panorama also revealed that the number of children being prescribed powerful antipsychotic drugs – normally used to treat psychosis and schizophrenia in adults – is on the increase.

The MTA was conducted by some of the world’s leading authorities on the behavioural disorder, and has been following the treatment of 600 children across the US since the Nineties.
 
Co-author, Professor William Pelham, of the University at Buffalo, believes that the beneficial impact of drugs used to treat ADHD were originally exaggerated. He said: “We had thought that children medicated longer would have better outcomes. That didn’t happen to be the case. There’s no indication that medication’s better than nothing in the long run.”
 
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is currently writing new guidelines for the treatment of ADHD, which will be published in 2008.
 
By Natasha Piscitelli