Stimulant drugs (such as Ritalin) prescribed to treat attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD) will not stunt the growth of children who take it every day. That’s the conclusion of a study led by Dr. Slavica Katusic, associate professor of pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Dr Katusic knows that many studies, very mixed, have already been published on the subject. Some conclude that the drugs block growth and others that they do not stop children from growing. But according to the Mayo Clinic doctor, these studies all had limitations because they involved too few children.
On the other hand, Dr. Katusic says (not without surprise) that his study is unique, because it compared a group of people with attention deficit disorder taking medication regularly to a group of hyperactive people not taking no drugs and a group without ADHD. All were followed from childhood to adulthood.
More than 20 years of follow-up
The average length of follow-up was 26 years for those with ADHD and 23 years for those without ADHD. About 70% of people with ADHD who completed the study had taken stimulant drugs for more than 3 months.
Dr. Katusic’s team followed 340 children with ADHD and 680 without the disease. “We compared their height when they were kids and when they were adults,” says the doctor. Researchers noted no difference in adult height between those who took ADHD medications and those who did not.
Later growth despite everything
The researchers noted that boys with ADHD treated with stimulants for 3 months or more had a later growth spurt than boys who did not take these drugs. But they didn’t notice a difference in height once they reached adulthood.
“Neither ADHD in the child itself, nor the stimulant drugs could be associated with a difference in stature in adults,” said Dr. Katusic.
