Adverse effects of stimulant medications in children and adolescents: focus on cardiovascular issues

Greydanus, Donald E.; Cates, Kevin W.; Sadigh, Nina

doi:10.1515/ijamh-2019-0174

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Cardiovascular adverse effects of stimulant drugs in children and adolescents are still controversial. The risk for most patients is small but careful evaluation is needed before and during stimulant prescription [16] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] . The purpose of our study was to investigate the effects of short-term (three months) medical therapy of children with ADHD in terms of blood pressure, QT interval, and left ventricular velocity time integral (LV-VTI).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of methylphenidate on blood pressure, QT-interval, and cardiac output in ADHD diagnosed children: A three months’ follow-up study

Omidi

Ghorashi

Tajrishi

et al. 2021

IJC Heart & Vasculature

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Background Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders of childhood. It’s been suggested that both the condition and the medications used to treat it can affect the cardiovascular system. This study aims to determine whether methylphenidate has the significant effects in cardiac indices. Methods In this prospective study, 100 newly ADHD-diagnosed children aged 6 to 11 whom all on methylphenidate were included. The demographic, clinical data including the blood pressure and heart rate (HR), echocardiographic, and QT-interval were recorded at baseline and after three months of follow-up. Results After the follow-up period, we observed no abnormal systolic, diastolic, or mean arterial pressure in any of the participants based on their age, height, and gender (p < 0.001). However, the mean of all these variables was significantly increased (p 〈0 0 1). Mean pulse pressure was also higher than baseline but it wasn’t statistically significant (p = 0.059). No significant change was observed in echocardiographic parameters and QT. Conclusion Short-term treatment of ADHD in children with methylphenidate does not have a meaningful relationship with hypertension and increased corrected QT interval. However, an increase in blood pressure and corrected QT interval within a non-pathological range suggests that longer follow-ups may reveal an association.

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