Findings show that stimulants such as Ritalin are no better than therapyand can stunt children's growth.
The Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD has monitored thetreatment of 600 children across the US since the 1990s.
The report's co-author Professor William Pelham told the BBC, 'I thinkthat we exaggerated the beneficial impact of medication in the firststudy. We had thought that children medicated longer would have betteroutcomes. That didn't happen to be the case.'
He added, 'The children had a substantial decrease in their rate ofgrowth, so they weren't growing as much as other kids, both in terms oftheir height and their weight. And there were no beneficial effects -none.'
In a statement, the UK's Department of Health said that it had askedNICE to develop a clinical guideline on the pharmacological andpsychological interventions to treat ADHD. It said, 'The guideline willcover the care provided by primary, community and secondary healthcareprofessionals who have direct contact with, and make decisionsconcerning, the care of children, young people and adults with ADHD.'
