ADD/ADHD News

According to findings in a recent multicenter study, 89% of preschool-aged children with moderate to severe attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder continued to experience serious symptoms and impairment after their original diagnoses and, in several cases, despite undergoing treatment.

Children whose parents reported incidents of intimate partner violence and depressive symptoms were more likely to have a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to new study results.

The rate of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis among children treated at Kaiser Permanente Southern California increased from 2001 to 2010, according to findings published today in JAMA Pediatrics.

Children who experienced in utero exposure to ischemic-hypoxic conditions were significantly more likely to develop attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder later in life compared with unexposed children.

Canadian researchers are urging physicians not to prescribe cognitive enhancers, or stimulants, to patients who have not been diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder, according to a research article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Relative age among classmates affected academic performance into puberty and heightened their risk for being prescribed stimulants for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to researchers, who said this should be taken into account when assessing children’s performance and behavior in school to prevent unnecessary stimulant prescription.

Children with migraines were at increased risk for poor school performance, researchers reported. School performance was also influenced by other factors, including the severity and duration of the migraines and abnormal mental health scores.

An 8-week intervention with a brain-computer interface-based attention training program significantly improved inattentive symptoms associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children aged 6 to 12 years, according to recent study results.

Men who were diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as children had significantly worse educational, occupational, economic and social outcomes as adults compared with men who were not diagnosed with the disorder as children, according to recent data. Divorce, incarceration, mortality and ongoing psychiatric disorders were also more common in this population.

Girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder were three to four times more likely to attempt suicide and two to three times more likely to injure themselves as young adults vs. girls who did not have ADHD, according to recent study results published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.