Low-dose ADHD drugs do not affect thyroid function, growth hormone at 1 year
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Among children diagnosed with ADHD, low doses of ADHD medications did not affect thyroid or growth hormone levels, according to study data.
Trends in hormone indices of children with ADHD who received long-term medication treatment remain controversial, according to Liang-Jen Wang, MD, MPH, PhD, a visiting staff member in the department of child and adolescent psychiatry at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and colleagues. The researchers conducted the prospective study to determine any changes in the GH and thyroid hormone systems in children with ADHD receiving various drug therapies.
The study included 118 children diagnosed with ADHD who were drug-naive and observed naturalistically for 12 months. Among participants, 22 received no medication, whereas 39 were treated with low doses of short-acting methylphenidate (MPH; 14 ± 6.7 mg/day), 40 with osmotic-release oral system (OROS) long-acting MPH (32 ± 9.6 mg/day) and 17 with atomoxetine (29.2 ± 9.7 mg/day). Groups were similar in age, sex distribution, height, weight and ADHD symptom severity, among other variables.
Researchers collected blood samples at baseline and 12 months to measure serum levels of insulin-like growth factor I, IGF binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3), prolactin, thyroid-stimulating hormone, triiodothyronine, thyroxine and free T4.
The four groups had comparable trends for IGF-I, IGFBP-3, prolactin, TSH, T3, T4 and free T4 levels. Researchers noted that changes in serum levels of IGF-I positively correlated with changes in height (P < .001) and weight (P < .001) for all participants. Researchers did note that participants in the MPH group had lower body weight gain than the group that did not receive medication, and that the ratio of MPH doses to body weight was inversely correlated with the increment in height.
“The trends of GH and thyroid function were similar in ADHD children without medication treatment, and patients who received various medication treatments (immediate-release MPH, OROS-MPH or atomoxetine) during the 12-month observation,” researchers concluded. “The results of this study provide new information for clinicians as low doses of ADHD medications exhibited no detrimental effect on children’s growth and hormone systems in a 12-month period. Nonetheless, patients’ growth and the appropriateness of drug dosage should be closely monitored among ADHD patients with long-term pharmacotherapy.”
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