The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7219 p518
12 October 2002

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JAMA (jama.ama-assn.org)

Medicines not to blame for smaller brain size of children with ADHD

The smaller brain size of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not caused by drug treatment, a new study suggests.

Researchers from New York University's child study centre used magnetic resonance imaging techniques to confirm that the brains of children with ADHD tend to be smaller than the brains of children without the disorder. They scanned the brains of 152 children with ADHD and 139 controls up to four times over a decade and found the cerebellum in the affected children was on average 6 per cent smaller.

Most of the children with ADHD were treated with stimulant drugs, but 49 of the children had never been treated. The researchers note that the reduced brain size seen among ADHD-affected children was as striking in those patients who were not treated with medicines as those who were. "Our study should provide a certain amount of reassurance that medications aren't reducing brain size in children with ADHD," Dr F. Xavier Castellanos, one of the study authors said (JAMA 2002;288:1740).