North-American investigators who performed a retrospective cohort study of 1,200,438 young patients (aged 2–24 years) have reported that current use of drugs for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not associated with increased risk for sudden cardiac death, acute myocardial infarction, or stroke (adjusted HR 0.75; 95% CI 0.31–1.85). Additionally, no link with ADHD-drug use was found for the individual end points of sudden cardiac death (adjusted HR 0.88; 95% CI 0.23–3.35) and stroke (adjusted HR 0.93; 95% CI 0.29–2.97), and no acute myocardial infarctions occurred in the current users. Former use of ADHD drugs also had no impact on risk for these serious cardiovascular events (adjusted HR 1.03; 95% CI 0.57–1.89). The results of this study, which was funded by the FDA and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, should help to allay some of the previous concerns about adverse effects of ADHD drugs in Canada and the USA.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER
Cooper, W. O. et al. ADHD drugs and serious cardiovascular events in children and young adults. N. Engl. J. Med. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1110212
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Large study demonstrates no increased risk of serious cardiovascular events with ADHD drugs. Nat Rev Cardiol 9, 4 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2011.174
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2011.174