ADHD Medications do not Increase Risk of Suicidal Tendencies

Some studies have suggested that certain attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications can increase the risk of suicidal tendencies. However, a recent study published in the British Medical Journal shows that this risk is unfounded, particularly for ADHD medications as Adderall and Ritalin.

"Our work in several ways shows that most likely there is no link between treatment with ADHD drugs and an increased risk of suicide attempts or suicide. The results rather indicate that ADHD drugs may have a protective effect," said lead researcher Henrik Larsson, from the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Karolinska Institutet, in a news release. 

For the study, researchers used national patient registers to identify all patients in Sweden who had been diagnosed with ADHD between 1960 and 1996, during which 37,936 people were diagnosed with ADHD. While following the individuals from 2006 to 2009, researchers monitored their drug treatments and events related to any suicidal behavior. 

Yet study findings showed no difference between suicidal behaviors in ADHD patients who received medications and those who did not.

"Many epidemiological studies on the risks related to drugs fail to adjust for the differences between individuals who take the drugs and those who do not. This is a critical limitation given that the individuals on medication are usually more severely ill than the others," Larsson concluded, according to the news release.