Half of the children with overweight or obesity and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder reach normal weight with stimulantsShow others and affiliations
2021 (English)In: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 110, no 10, p. 2825-2832Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Aim Treatment of childhood obesity is often insufficient and may be aggravated by high co-occurrence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We aimed to investigate whether children with overweight or obesity normalised in weight when receiving stimulant treatment for ADHD. Methods Growth data of 118 children were obtained from medical records at outpatient paediatric and children’s psychiatric services in the Gothenburg area, Sweden. The children were diagnosed with ADHD and were between 6 and 17 years at the start of stimulant treatment. The pre-treatment data act as an internal control where every child is their own control. Results At the start of treatment, 74 children had normal weight and 44 had either overweight or obesity. During the year with stimulants, the mean (SD) body mass index (BMI) in standard deviation score (SDS) decreased significantly: -0.72 (0.66) compared with 0.17 (0.43) during the year before treatment (p < 0.01). After one year with treatment, 43% of those with overweight or obesity had reached normal weight. Conclusions Stimulant treatment for ADHD yields significant weight loss. In children with overweight or obesity and ADHD, this is an important finding showing additional benefit in terms of weight management.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Wiley-Blackwell, 2021. Vol. 110, no 10, p. 2825-2832
Keywords [en]
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; body mass index; central stimulants; children; obesity
National Category
Pediatrics Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine
Research subject
Child and Youth studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-17290DOI: 10.1111/apa.15881ISI: 000645945200001Scopus ID: s2.0-85105161757OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hv-17290DiVA, id: diva2:1599665
Note
The project was supported by the Gothenburg Society of Medicine, ALFGBG-719711 and GLS-779231. The funder had no involvement in any aspect of the study or paper
2021-10-012021-10-012025-09-30