ADHD Drugs may Cause Weight Gain in Children

Children diagnosed with attention-deficity/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and on stimulant medications to control symptoms tend to gain more weight than peers as they enter their teenage years, according to a recent study. 

"The reason we think it is more likely to be the drugs than the diagnosis is because the earlier the drugs were started and the longer the drugs were used, the stronger the effects," said study author Dr. Brian Schwartz, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, via Philly.com. "If you agree with the reports that stimulants may be over-prescribed, then this is another important cost of that over-treatment -- kids who have dramatic changes in their growth trajectories during and after the treatment."

For the study, researchers examined the medical records of around 160,000 children between the ages of 3 and 18, some of whom were followed for as long as 12 years. Findings showed that around 8 percent of the children received a diagnosis of ADHD while nearly 7 percent had been prescribed stimulants to treat their symptoms. 

For the study, kids had three annual body-mass index (BMI) measurements recorded. Researchers found that children with an ADHD diagnosis who had not taken any medication to treat symptoms started to put on more weight than peers without the disorder as early as age 10. 

"We certainly need to be more cautious about use of these medications in children," Schwartz said, via Time. "Obesity has lifelong risks. If this is a consequence of stimulant use, and since there is evidence that we might be overprescribing stimulants, we might be contributing to the childhood- and adult-obesity epidemics." 

Though researchers note that stimulant use can increase the risk of obesity, they are unclear at this time why this would result in an onset of obesity in teenagers. 

What do you think?

More information regarding the study can be found via the John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.