ADHD drugs don’t improve attention, new research finds – but they still work
Doctors trusted prescription drugs Adderall and Ritalin treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder for decades.
More than 15 million American adults And seven million children It is possible to live a lifetime with this disease, which is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and leaves children unable to focus or control impulsive behavior. Approximately 3.5 million children ages 3 to 17 ADHD medication.
Researchers now say stimulants do not work as previously believed.
Instead of impressing regions of the brain Drugs that control attention primarily affect the reward and alertness centers of the brain. to work Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found it.
Dr., an assistant professor in the field of neurology. “As a child neurologist, I prescribe a lot of stimulants, and I have always been taught that they facilitate attentional systems to give people more voluntary control over what they pay attention to,” said Benjamin Kay. expression. “But we showed that this is not the case.”
Common medications used by nearly 3.5 million US children with ADHD do not work as well as researchers previously thought (AFP/Getty)
“Rather, the improvement in attention we observed is a secondary effect of the child being more alert and finding a task more rewarding, which naturally helps him or her pay more attention,” he said.
Rather than improving patients’ ability to focus, the drugs make individuals with ADHD more alert and interested in subjects they normally wouldn’t enjoy, the study authors said.
Researchers also found that the drugs produced patterns of brain activity that mimic the effects of good sleep, counteracting the effects of sleep deprivation in children with ADHD. Nine hours of sleep each night is recommended.
Additionally, children taking ADHD medication had better academic performance and performed better on cognitive tests.
Researchers used brain imaging data from nearly 6,000 children ages eight to 11 collected as part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the country, comparing how brain regions communicate in children who did and did not receive scans and stimulants.
Researchers say they’re concerned that using ADHD stimulants could mask sleep health problems in children (Getty Images/iStock)
The researchers then looked at the brains of five healthy adults without ADHD who took the drug. The results of their observations were the same.
David M. & Tracy S. Holtzman Professor of Neurology, Dr. “These results also provide a potential explanation for how stimulants treat hyperactivity, which previously seemed contradictory,” added Nico Dosenbach.
Both researchers said more studies are needed to better understand the drugs’ long-term effects on brain function.
Medicines can provide a corrective effect by clearing cellular debris in the brain. Or they may cause permanent damage by covering up chronic sleep disorders.
Pre research He attributed ADHD to lack of proper sleep.
“Sleep disorders are incredibly common in ADHD, affecting approximately three in four children and adolescents,” said Jessica Lunsford-Avery, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine who was not involved in the study. Washington Post.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that clinicians and families need to view ADHD as a 24-hour disorder. Unfortunately, sleep problems in children and adolescents with ADHD are rarely recognized or adequately treated.”
