Many kids with ADHD not getting required meds

By Charnicia E. Huggins

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While many people believe that too many children are being treated for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) these days, a new study shows that many children with the condition are not being treated.

"Rather than the popular belief that children are being overmedicated... in fact they're being undermedicated," study co-author Dr. Wendy Reich, of Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, Missouri, told Reuters Health.

Various researchers have reported an increase in the rate of treatment for ADHD, but other reports suggest that medications are not prescribed for those who need them most.

In the current study, Reich and her team assessed ADHD medication use among 1,610 Missouri twins, aged 7 to 17 years, based on information that was collected between 1996 and 2001 via the Missouri Assessment of Genetics Interview for Children.

A total of 359 individual twins -- 302 boys and 57 girls -- met the criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD. Yet, only about 59 percent of boys and 46 percent of girls with ADHD were treated with medication, the researchers report in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

On the other hand, more than a third (35 percent) of study participants who did receive medication for ADHD did not meet the full criteria for an ADHD diagnosis, although they had about nine or ten symptoms of the condition. "These children were clearly on the borderline," Reich said.

Whether or not the child met the full criteria for an ADHD diagnosis, many of those treated with medication experienced an improvement in their symptoms, according to their parents' report.

Children with ADHD were most likely to see a physician for treatment if they were diagnosed with the condition; if they had a fraternal, rather than identical twin; if their twin was also being treated; if they were male; and if they had conduct disorder.

They were more likely to actually receive treatment, however, if they had a twin who was also being treated.

"There continues to be room for improvement in the treatment of ADHD in the general population," Reich and her co-authors conclude.

"From a clinical point of view, this study affirms that for whatever reason, many children who could benefit from treatment are not receiving it," Reich added in a university statement.

For parents wondering, for example, if their son's hyperactivity or their daughter's inability to focus are signs of ADHD, the first step they should take is to contact their child's pediatrician, Reich told Reuters Health.

"The pediatrician is the first line of defense," she said. The pediatrician may then recommend seeing a child psychologist.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, July 2006.