Despite its intended purpose, researchers at the University of Montreal believe that black-box warnings regarding the dangers of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications are misleading and could have serious negative consequences for the risk of youth suicide. In a new study, the team claims that these warnings conflict with the results of current research into the issue.
"Health Canada has issued a series of black-box warnings about the suicidal potential of ADHD medications," said Alain Lesage, co-author of the study, in a press release. "However, these warnings have failed to take into account epidemiological studies showing the opposite, that increased use of this medication has been associated with reduced suicide risk in adolescents."
Over the past 10 years, ADHD medical treatment has increased three-fold in Quebec, with 9 percent of boys 10 or older and 4 percent of boys 15 or older receiving treatment. However, suicides among Quebec's 15 to 19-year-olds decreased by almost 50 percent during this period, contrary to the warning issued by Health Canada.
"Clearly, the increased use of ADHD drugs indicates that they might actually reduce rather than augment the risk of suicide," said Edouard Kouassi, co-author of the study.
According to the authors, ADHD medication alleviates standard symptoms of hyperactivity and leads to an increase in school performance, self-esteem and reductions in conduct disorder, female pregnancy and drug abuse. They believe that Health Canada's black-box warnings may contribute to subscription reduction due to fears regarding health issues, when in fact these medications may be beneficial.
"The silence from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is especially worrying in a context in which it has been called on to prepare a national suicide prevention strategy for the government of Canada under Bill C-300. We wrote this correspondence hoping to sound the alarm about the warnings published by Quebec's health authorities, as elsewhere in Canada, which might lead to a decrease in this effective medical treatment," the study concludes.
Further research will need to conducted in other provinces as well as in the United States in order to establish a clear, conclusive connection between the use of ADHD medication and teen suicide rates.
The findings were published in the December issue of The Lancet Psychiatry.
