ADHD drugs seen as not linked to future drug abuse

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Using stimulants like Ritalin to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, particularly younger ones, does not seem to boost the risk of later substance abuse, researchers said on Tuesday.

There has been a debate over whether such medications are the best way to treat ADHD, a condition marked by inattention, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior that appears more often in boys than girls. Some experts have worried these drugs could make children more prone to substance abuse later on.

Two teams of researchers who examined the issue in studies published in American Journal of Psychiatry said their findings should offer some reassurance about using these stimulants.

A team led by Salvatore Mannuzza of New York University followed for 17 years a group of 176 young men who had been prescribed Ritalin for ADHD as boys. Those who began taking Ritalin at ages 6 or 7 had essentially the same rate of drug abuse as young adults -- 27 percent -- as a group of young men who did not have ADHD and did not take Ritalin -- 29 percent.

Those with ADHD who started taking Ritalin at a slightly older age -- 8 through 12 -- did have a higher rate of future drug abuse -- 44 percent, the study found.

Mannuzza said it was premature to conclude it was the Ritalin, rather than the mere fact of having a condition like ADHD, that increased their likelihood of later drug abuse.

He said that question could be better answered by comparing children with ADHD treated with the medication starting at ages 8 to 12 with others with ADHD who were not treated with medication at all, to see if those groups had differing rates of drug abuse as adults.

"You can't conclude that late-treated cases will develop substance abuse even though that's what our findings seem to suggest," Mannuzza said.