No link between ADHD medications and psychosis, study finds
Analyses of stimulant prescriptions among nearly 8,400 kids with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder found no evidence that the drugs caused psychosis, researchers reported Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
"Previous observational research has suggested that stimulants may play a causal role in the development of psychotic experiences in young people with ADHD," wrote the research team led by senior investigator Dr. Ian Kelleher, chair of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh in the U.K.
However, this perceived link likely is because kids who are more likely to be treated for ADHD also share factors that place them at higher risk for psychotic episodes, researchers said.
These factors include more severe ADHD symptoms and a higher number of other mental health problems researchers found.
"Our findings do not support a causal relationship between stimulant prescription and psychotic experiences," the study concluded. "Rather, the association appears to be confounded by factors that both increase probability of stimulant prescription and lead to psychotic experiences."
For the study, researchers tracked the health of children participating in an adolescent brain development study in the United States. Kids 9 to 10 were recruited into the study between 2016 and 2018.
Of those children, just under 6% had been prescribed one or more stimulant prescriptions.
At first, results indicated that stimulant meds did indeed increase the risk of a psychotic episode by 46%.
However, researchers found the reverse was also true, with psychotic episodes nearly doubling the chances a child would be prescribed stimulant medications.
After adjusting for this two-way association, researchers found no significant link between the use of the ADHD meds and psychosis.
"Our findings suggest that shared characteristics associated with psychotic experiences and likelihood to be treated for ADHD may drive the association between stimulants and psychotic experiences, rather than stimulants playing a causal role," researchers concluded.
"It is likely that young people with more severe ADHD are more likely to develop psychotic experiences and are also more likely to be prescribed stimulants," they added.
More information
The National Alliance on Mental Health has more about psychosis.
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