Drugs prescribed for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder might increase the risk of heart diseases, new research shows.
Psychostimulant drugs, commonly used to treat ADHD, also come with side effects, Danish researchers warn.
Researchers Søren Dalsgaard, MD, PhD, of, Aarhus University, and his colleagues from iPSYCH, University of Southern Denmark, Hospital of Telemark in Norway, and Yale University School of Medicine, conducted the study on more than 700,000 children in Denmark
The team noted that 8,300 were diagnosed with ADHD. They analyzed the possible association between psychostimulants and cardiovascular disease risk. The team found that specific dose of ADHD drugs increases certain cardiovascular conditions.
"This study confirms the small but real risk we have understood for some time through prior reports and clinical experience," said Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, the journal in which the study was published.
"But Dalsgaard et al.'s excellent design and the robust sample size make it abundantly clear that treating clinicians cannot ignore existing guidelines concerning the assessment of cardiac risk prior to treatment and monitoring key vital signs during the course," said Koplewicz, President of Child Mind Institute, New York.
However, on the brighter side, a new study cleared the myth surrounding ADHD drugs and suicidal thoughts. The research showed that ADHD medications do not increase the risk of suicide. The study results oppose previous studies that stated ADHD stimulants were linked to increasing number of suicides.
Another recent research on heart diseases due to diabetes showed that administering low doses of thyroid hormone restores hormone levels in the heart and lowers the risk of developing heart diseases in diabetics.
The current study 'Cardiovascular Safety of Stimulants in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder-A Nationwide Prospective Cohort Study' was published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology.
