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Item does not contain fulltext, BACKGROUND: Many children and adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are treated with stimulant and non-stimulant medication. ADHD medication may be associated with cardiovascular effects. It is important to identify whether mean group effects translate into clinically relevant increases for some individual patients, and/or increase the risk for serious cardiovascular adverse events such as stroke or sudden death. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate potential cardiovascular effects of these treatments, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of methylphenidate (MPH), amphetamines (AMP), and atomoxetine (ATX) on diastolic and systolic blood pressure (DBP, SBP) and heart rate (HR) in children and adolescents with ADHD. METHODS: We conducted systematic searches in electronic databases (PsychINFO, EMBASE and Medline) to identify published trials which involved individuals who were (i) diagnosed with ADHD and were aged between 0-18 years; (ii) treated with MPH, AMP or ATX and (iii) had their DBP and SBP and/or HR measured at baseline (pre) and the endpoint (post) of the study treatment. Studies with an open-label design or a double-blind randomised control design of any duration were included. Statistical analysis involved calculating differences between pre- and post-treatment measurements for the various cardiovascular parameters divided by the pooled standard deviation. Further, we assessed the percentage of clinically relevant increased BP or HR, or documented arrhythmias. RESULTS: Eighteen clinical trials met the inclusion criteria (10 for MPH, 5 for AMP, and 7 for ATX) with data from 5837 participants (80.7% boys) and average duration of 28.7 weeks (range 4-96 weeks). All three medications were associated with a small, but statistically significant pre-post increase of SBP (MPH: standard mean difference [SMD] 0.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.08-0.42, p < 0.01; AMP: SMD 0.09, 95% CI 0.03-0.15, p < 0.01; ATX: SMD 0.16, 95%

Item does not contain fulltext, Individuals with ADHD appear to respond differently to incentives than their peers. This could be due to a general altered sensitivity to reinforcers. However, apart from differences in the degree of motivation, individuals with ADHD might also be motivated by qualitatively different factors. This study aimed to harvest a range of motivational factors and identify ADHD-related qualitative differences in motivation, from the adolescent's point of view. Semi-structured interviews allowing participants to describe what motivates them in daily life were conducted with young adolescents (9-16 years) with and without ADHD. Thematic analysis was undertaken using NVivo software. Major themes relating to motivation were identified from the interview data. These were: (1) achieving a sense of togetherness; (2) feeling competent; (3) fulfilling a need for variation; (4) gaining pleasure from applying effort to achieve a goal; (5) valuing social reinforcement; (6) desiring to be absorbed/forget problems; (7) feeling free and independent, (8) attaining material reinforcement; and (9) an enjoyment of bodily stimulation. The theme structure was very similar for both groups. However, individuals with ADHD differed in some specifics: their focus on the passing of time, the absence of preference for predictable and familiar tasks, and their less elaborate description of the togetherness theme. A broad range of motivational themes was identified, stretching beyond the current focus of ADHD research and motivational theories. Similarities and differences in motivational values of individuals with and without ADHD should be taken into account in reward sensitivity research, and in psychological treatment.

BACKGROUND: Many children and adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are treated with stimulant and non-stimulant medication. ADHD medication may be associated with cardiovascular effects. It is important to identify whether mean group effects translate into clinically relevant increases for some individual patients, and/or increase the risk for serious cardiovascular adverse events such as stroke or sudden death. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate potential cardiovascular effects of these treatments, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of methylphenidate (MPH), amphetamines (AMP), and atomoxetine (ATX) on diastolic and systolic blood pressure (DBP, SBP) and heart rate (HR) in children and adolescents with ADHD. METHODS: We conducted systematic searches in electronic databases (PsychINFO, EMBASE and Medline) to identify published trials which involved individuals who were (i) diagnosed with ADHD and were aged between 0-18 years; (ii) treated with MPH, AMP or ATX and (iii) had their DBP and SBP and/or HR measured at baseline (pre) and the endpoint (post) of the study treatment. Studies with an open-label design or a double-blind randomised control design of any duration were included. Statistical analysis involved calculating differences between pre- and post-treatment measurements for the various cardiovascular parameters divided by the pooled standard deviation. Further, we assessed the percentage of clinically relevant increased BP or HR, or documented arrhythmias. RESULTS: Eighteen clinical trials met the inclusion criteria (10 for MPH, 5 for AMP, and 7 for ATX) with data from 5837 participants (80.7% boys) and average duration of 28.7 weeks (range 4-96 weeks). All three medications were associated with a small, but statistically significant pre-post increase of SBP (MPH: standard mean difference [SMD] 0.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.08-0.42, p < 0.01; AMP: SMD 0.09, 95% CI 0.03-0.15, p < 0.01; ATX: SMD 0.16, 95%

Item does not contain fulltext, OBJECTIVE: There is no questionnaire to specifically monitor perceived adverse events of methylphenidate (MPH) on cognition, motivation, and mood. The current study therefore had two goals. First, to harvest accounts of such putative events from transcripts of interviews in samples enriched for such potential experiences. Second, to use the derived data to generate items for a new questionnaire that can be used for monitoring such events in medication trials or routine clinical care. METHODS: Following a literature search aimed at identifying associations between MPH and cognition and/or motivation, a qualitative semistructured interview was designed to focus specifically on the domains of cognition (i.e., reasoning, depth/breadth of thinking, intellectual capacity, and creativity) and motivation (i.e., drive, effort, and attitudes toward rewards/incentives). Interviews were conducted with 45 participants drawn from the following four groups: (a) clinicians, child and adolescent psychiatrists, and pediatricians specializing in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (n = 15); (2) teachers, with experience of teaching at least 10 medicated children with ADHD (n = 10); (3) parents of children with ADHD (n = 8) treated with MPH; and (4) adolescents/adults with ADHD (n = 12). Purposeful sampling was used to selectively recruit ADHD participants whose histories suggested a degree of vulnerability to MPH adverse events. Data were analyzed using a deductive approach to content analysis. RESULTS: While we probed purposefully for cognitive and motivational adverse events, a third domain, related to mood, emerged from the reports. Therefore, three domains, each with a number of subdomains, were identified from the interview accounts: (i) Cognition (six subdomains; attention/concentration, changes in thinking, reduced creativity, sensory overload, memory, slower processing speed); (ii) motivation (four subdomains; loss of intrinsic motivation for goal-directed activiti

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__Background:__ The need for accessible and motivating treatment approaches within mental health has led to the development of an Internet-based serious game intervention (called "Plan-It Commander") as an adjunct to treatment as usual for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). __Objective:__ The aim was to determine the effects of Plan-It Commander on daily life skills of children with ADHD in a multisite randomized controlled crossover open-label trial. __Methods:__ Participants (N=170) in this 20-week trial had a diagnosis of ADHD and ranged in age from 8 to 12 years (male: 80.6%, 137/170; female: 19.4%, 33/170). They were randomized to a serious game intervention group (group 1; n=88) or a treatment-as-usual crossover group (group 2; n=82). Participants randomized to group 1 received a serious game intervention in addition to treatment as usual for the first 10 weeks and then received treatment as usual for the next 10 weeks. Participants randomized to group 2 received treatment as usual for the first 10 weeks and crossed over to the serious game intervention in addition to treatment as usual for the subsequent 10 weeks. Primary (parent report) and secondary (parent, teacher, and child self-report) outcome measures were administered at baseline, 10 weeks, and 10-week follow-up. __Results:__ After 10 weeks, participants in group 1 compared to group 2 achieved significantly greater improvements on the primary outcome of time management skills (parent-reported; P=.004) and on secondary outcomes of the social skill of responsibility (parent-reported; P=.04), and working memory (parent-reported; P=.02). Parents and teachers reported that total social skills improved over time within groups, whereas effects on total social skills and teacher-reported planning/organizing skills were nonsignificant between groups. Within group 1, positive effects were maintained or further improved in the last 10 weeks of the study. Participants in group 2, who p

OBJECTIVE: There is no questionnaire to specifically monitor perceived adverse events of methylphenidate (MPH) on cognition, motivation, and mood. The current study therefore had two goals. First, to harvest accounts of such putative events from transcripts of interviews in samples enriched for such potential experiences. Second, to use the derived data to generate items for a new questionnaire that can be used for monitoring such events in medication trials or routine clinical care. METHODS: Following a literature search aimed at identifying associations between MPH and cognition and/or motivation, a qualitative semistructured interview was designed to focus specifically on the domains of cognition (i.e., reasoning, depth/breadth of thinking, intellectual capacity, and creativity) and motivation (i.e., drive, effort, and attitudes toward rewards/incentives). Interviews were conducted with 45 participants drawn from the following four groups: (a) clinicians, child and adolescent psychiatrists, and pediatricians specializing in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (n = 15); (2) teachers, with experience of teaching at least 10 medicated children with ADHD (n = 10); (3) parents of children with ADHD (n = 8) treated with MPH; and (4) adolescents/adults with ADHD (n = 12). Purposeful sampling was used to selectively recruit ADHD participants whose histories suggested a degree of vulnerability to MPH adverse events. Data were analyzed using a deductive approach to content analysis. RESULTS: While we probed purposefully for cognitive and motivational adverse events, a third domain, related to mood, emerged from the reports. Therefore, three domains, each with a number of subdomains, were identified from the interview accounts: (i) Cognition (six subdomains; attention/concentration, changes in thinking, reduced creativity, sensory overload, memory, slower processing speed); (ii) motivation (four subdomains; loss of intrinsic motivation for goal-directed activiti

Item does not contain fulltext, In children and adolescents with conduct disorder (CD), pharmacotherapy is considered when non-pharmacological interventions do not improve symptoms and functional impairment. Risperidone, a second-generation antipsychotic is increasingly prescribed off-label in this indication, but its efficacy and tolerability is poorly studied in CD, especially in young people with normal intelligence. The Paediatric European Risperidone Studies (PERS) include a series of trials to assess short-term efficacy, tolerability and maintenance effects of risperidone in children and adolescents with CD and normal intelligence as well as long-term tolerability in a 2-year pharmacovigilance. In addition to its core studies, secondary PERS analyses will examine moderators of drug effects. As PERS is a large-scale academic project involving a collaborative network of expert centres from different countries, it is expected that results will lead to strengthen the evidence base for the use of risperidone in CD and improve standards of care. Challenging issues faced by the PERS consortium are described to facilitate future developments in paediatric neuropsychopharmacology.

Item does not contain fulltext, OBJECTIVE: Behavioral interventions are recommended as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) treatments. However, a recent meta-analysis found no effects on core ADHD symptoms when raters were probably blind to treatment allocation. The present analysis is extended to a broader range of child and parent outcomes. METHOD: A systematic search in PubMed, Ovid, Web of Knowledge, ERIC, and CINAHAL databases (up to February 5, 2013) identified published randomized controlled trials measuring a range of patient and parent outcomes for children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD (or who met validated cutoffs on rating scales). RESULTS: Thirty-two of 2,057 nonduplicate screened records were analyzed. For assessments made by individuals closest to the treatment setting (usually unblinded), there were significant improvements in parenting quality (standardized mean difference [SMD] for positive parenting 0.68; SMD for negative parenting 0.57), parenting self-concept (SMD 0.37), and child ADHD (SMD 0.35), conduct problems (SMD 0.26), social skills (SMD 0.47), and academic performance (SMD 0.28). With probably blinded assessments, significant effects persisted for parenting (SMD for positive parenting 0.63; SMD for negative parenting 0.43) and conduct problems (SMD 0.31). CONCLUSION: In contrast to the lack of blinded evidence of ADHD symptom decrease, behavioral interventions have positive effects on a range of other outcomes when used with patients with ADHD. There is blinded evidence that they improve parenting and decrease childhood conduct problems. These effects also may feed through into a more positive parenting self-concept but not improved parent mental well-being.

In children and adolescents with conduct disorder (CD), pharmacotherapy is considered when non-pharmacological interventions do not improve symptoms and functional impairment. Risperidone, a second-generation antipsychotic is increasingly prescribed off-label in this indication, but its efficacy and tolerability is poorly studied in CD, especially in young people with normal intelligence. The Paediatric European Risperidone Studies (PERS) include a series of trials to assess short-term efficacy, tolerability and maintenance effects of risperidone in children and adolescents with CD and normal intelligence as well as long-term tolerability in a 2-year pharmacovigilance. In addition to its core studies, secondary PERS analyses will examine moderators of drug effects. As PERS is a large-scale academic project involving a collaborative network of expert centres from different countries, it is expected that results will lead to strengthen the evidence base for the use of risperidone in CD and improve standards of care. Challenging issues faced by the PERS consortium are described to facilitate future developments in paediatric neuropsychopharmacology.

In children and adolescents with conduct disorder (CD), pharmacotherapy is considered when non-pharmacological interventions do not improve symptoms and functional impairment. Risperidone, a second-generation antipsychotic is increasingly prescribed off-label in this indication, but its efficacy and tolerability is poorly studied in CD, especially in young people with normal intelligence. The Paediatric European Risperidone Studies (PERS) include a series of trials to assess short-term efficacy, tolerability and maintenance effects of risperidone in children and adolescents with CD and normal intelligence as well as long-term tolerability in a 2-year pharmacovigilance. In addition to its core studies, secondary PERS analyses will examine moderators of drug effects. As PERS is a large-scale academic project involving a collaborative network of expert centres from different countries, it is expected that results will lead to strengthen the evidence base for the use of risperidone in CD and improve standards of care. Challenging issues faced by the PERS consortium are described to facilitate future developments in paediatric neuropsychopharmacology.

The safety of ADHD medications is not fully known. Concerns have arisen about both a lack of contemporary-standard information about medications first licensed several decades ago, and signals of possible harm arising from more recently developed medications. These relate to both relatively minor adverse effects and extremely serious issues such as sudden cardiac death and suicidality. A guidelines group of the European Network for Hyperkinetic Disorders (EUNETHYDIS) has therefore reviewed the literature, recruited renowned clinical subspecialists and consulted as a group to examine these concerns. Some of the effects examined appeared to be minimal in impact or difficult to distinguish from risk to untreated populations. However, several areas require further study to allow a more precise understanding of these risks.

1 september 2010, Contains fulltext : 88696.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), The Eunethydis ADHD Guidelines group set out here the ethical principles governing the relationship between the group and industry. The principles set out here are provided to ensure that this is both done and seen to be done. The impetus for these guidelines comes from within the Group and is linked to the recognition for the need for an open and transparent basis for Group-industry relations, especially in the light of the present concern that the pharmaceutical industry may be exerting a growing influence on the actions of researchers and clinicians in the ADHD field.

01 februari 2010, Contains fulltext : 87752.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), Quality of life (QoL) describes an individual's subjective perception of their position in life as evidenced by their physical, psychological, and social functioning. QoL has become an increasingly important measure of outcome in child mental health clinical work and research. Here we provide a systematic review of QoL studies in children and young people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and address three main questions. (1) What is the impact of ADHD on QoL? (2) What are the relationships between ADHD symptoms, functional impairment and the mediators and moderators of QoL in ADHD? (3) Does the treatment of ADHD impact on QoL? Databases were systematically searched to identify research studies describing QoL in ADHD. Thirty six relevant articles were identified. Robust negative effects on QoL are reported by the parents of children with ADHD across a broad range of psycho-social, achievement and self evaluation domains. Children with ADHD rate their own QoL less negatively than their parents and do not always seeing themselves as functioning less well than healthy controls. ADHD has a comparable overall impact on QoL compared to other mental health conditions and severe physical disorders. Increased symptom level and impairment predicts poorer QoL. The presence of comorbid conditions or psychosocial stressors helps explain these effects. There is emerging evidence that QoL improves with effective treatment. In conclusion, ADHD seriously compromises QoL especially when seen from a parents' perspective. QoL outcomes should be included as a matter of course in future treatment studies.

Quality of life (QoL) describes an individual's subjective perception of their position in life as evidenced by their physical, psychological, and social functioning. QoL has become an increasingly important measure of outcome in child mental health clinical work and research. Here we provide a systematic review of QoL studies in children and young people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and address three main questions. (1) What is the impact of ADHD on QoL? (2) What are the relationships between ADHD symptoms, functional impairment and the mediators and moderators of QoL in ADHD? (3) Does the treatment of ADHD impact on QoL? Databases were systematically searched to identify research studies describing QoL in ADHD. Thirty six relevant articles were identified. Robust negative effects on QoL are reported by the parents of children with ADHD across a broad range of psycho-social, achievement and self evaluation domains. Children with ADHD rate their own QoL less negatively than their parents and do not always seeing themselves as functioning less well than healthy controls. ADHD has a comparable overall impact on QoL compared to other mental health conditions and severe physical disorders. Increased symptom level and impairment predicts poorer QoL. The presence of comorbid conditions or psychosocial stressors helps explain these effects. There is emerging evidence that QoL improves with effective treatment. In conclusion, ADHD seriously compromises QoL especially when seen from a parents' perspective. QoL outcomes should be included as a matter of course in future treatment studies.

The Eunethydis ADHD Guidelines group set out here the ethical principles governing the relationship between the group and industry. The principles set out here are provided to ensure that this is both done and seen to be done. The impetus for these guidelines comes from within the Group and is linked to the recognition for the need for an open and transparent basis for Group-industry relations, especially in the light of the present concern that the pharmaceutical industry may be exerting a growing influence on the actions of researchers and clinicians in the ADHD field.

Contains fulltext : 81928.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)

Item does not contain fulltext, A panel of experts from several European countries has accomplished a systematic review of published and unpublished data on the use of long-acting medications in ADHD and hyperkinetic disorder. Based on this analysis detailed recommendations about the use of these drugs in practice have been developed: (1) Long-acting preparations should be licensed and used; (2) They should not completely replace short-acting drugs (which will be the initial treatment for many children in view of cost and the greater flexibility of dosing). Individual clinical choices are necessary. (3) Both ATX and extended-release stimulants should be available. In addition, detailed recommendations will be made with regard to the criteria to be applied in choosing a preparation for the individual patient.

Item does not contain fulltext, A panel of experts from several European countries has accomplished a systematic review of published and unpublished data on the use of long-acting medications in ADHD and hyperkinetic disorders, on the basis of which practical recommendations for the application of these medications have been developed. The current article outlines results of this analysis, comparing the effect sizes and numbers-needed to-treat for extended-release stimulant preparations and atomoxetine (ATX). It is concluded (1) that long-acting preparations should be licensed and used. (2) However, they should not completely replace short-acting medications, in view of costs as well as the greater flexibility of dosing. Individual choices of therapy are necessary. (3) Both ATX and retarded-release stimulants should be available.