A 24-Month Effects of Methylphenidate Use on Growth in Children and Adolescents With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

ObjectiveThe primary objective of this study was to investigate the effect of methylphenidate (MPH) on height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) in drug-naive children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) over 24 months. The secondary objective was to investigate whether the age of MPH initiation and sex act as risk factors for growth retardation. Methods A total of 82 patients with ADHD were included. Weight, height, and BMI were measured at baseline and every 6 months up to 24 months. Weight, height, and BMI data were converted to z-scores and analyzed using two-way repeated-measures ANOVA and multiple linear regression. Results The z-score of height, weight and BMI decreased from the baseline values. The z-scores of height were at baseline 0.002; 6 months -0.100; 12 months -0.159; 18 months -0.159; 24 months -0.186. The z-scores of weight were at baseline 0.104; 6 months -0.155; 12 months -0.256; 18 months -0.278; 24 months -0.301. Here were no age and sex differences of height, weight, and BMI. Conclusion The use of MPH was associated with attenuation of weight and height gain rates in children and adolescents with ADHD.

Effect of methylphenidate on height in pediatric attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Twenty-six of the 29 eligible studies were self-controlled studies; among these 26 studies, 13 were retrospective studies that mostly utilized medical records [7,13,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25], whereas 12 monitored height outcomes in a prospective manner [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. One study, which collected data using both medical records and prospective measurements, was categorized as a retrospective study [14]; the three remaining studies used a cross-sectional measurement method [38][39][40].…”