A Penn study has found that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medications do not increase the risk of severe cardiovascular events in children.
The observational study conducted by researchers at the Ruth and Raymond Perelman School of Medicine and HealthCore, Inc., focused on children aged 3 to 17 years old who took medications used to treat ADHD, such as Ritalin and Adderall, but it could also have implications for adults.
Previous studies suggested that ADHD medications led to increased heart rate and blood pressure in children, which prompted researchers to further examine the topic, according to a Penn Med statement.
Researchers identified 241,417 patients on ADHD drugs from databases and compared rates of sudden death, heart attack and stroke to those of patients not taking ADHD medications.
More studies need to be done to confirm the results, said Sean Hennessey, a professor of Epidemiology at Penn and the senior author of the study.
The study had some limitations. Insurance diagnoses for cardiovascular events, which were used as data in the study, can be “unreliable,” Hennessey said. “Another limitation is that we were unable to obtain all of the medical records corresponding to potential events in the study population.”
Although the study only examined children, there is also a worry that adults who take ADHD medications can have an increased risk of heart attack.
“There has been concern among clinicians specializing in adult ADHD about the risk of ADHD medications possibly triggering cardiac events in these patients,” said Russell Ramsay, co-director of Penn’s Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program. “The incidence of cardiac events is higher among adults than for children and there can be health factors that further complicate cardiac health in adults.”
However, the results of this study are “encouraging” for adults, Ramsay added.
Hennessey and other researchers are analyzing the results of a similar study focused on the adult population, Hennessey said.
A rising College senior who wished to remain anonymous because of the legal implications of taking a drug without a prescription was “nervous” the first time she took Adderall to help her study for a test.
“I had heard about other people having rapid heart beat” after taking the drug, she wrote in an email.
The results of the study “make me feel better,” she wrote. “I’m not that much older than 17 so I don’t think I would be at a higher risk.”
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