Stimulant medications -- such as Adderall, Ritalin and Concerta -- used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, won't stunt their growth, a new study suggests. reports WebMd.
"Stimulant medication did not affect children's final height as adults," study researcher Dr. Slavica Katusic, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. told the health website.
Katusic noted that results of earlier studies have been mixed, with some showing these drugs retard growth and others showing they don't.
Katusic said this study is unique because it followed a group of people with ADHD who were taking stimulant medications and compared them with a group with ADHD who were not taking medication and also a group that didn't have ADHD. These individuals were followed from childhood to adulthood, she said.
ADHD is one of the most common disorders of childhood, according to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Symptoms include difficulty paying attention or staying focused on one task, overactivity and impulsive behavior, the NIMH explains.
Katusic's team studied 340 children with ADHD and 680 without the condition. "We compared the height when they were children and when they were grown up," she said.
The average follow-up time was 26 years for those with ADHD and 23 years for people without ADHD. Approximately 70 percent of those with ADHD who completed the study had taken stimulant medication for more than three months, the researchers noted.
