http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,16646725,00.html

Doubts cast on safety of ADHD medications
Clara Pirani, Medical Reporter
September 19, 2005
THERE is little evidence that drugs used to treat attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder are effective or even safe, one of the most
comprehensive reviews of the drugs has found.

An analysis of more than 2200 studies into 16 drugs -- including Ritalin and
dexamphetamine, both widely used in Australia -- found "evidence on the
effectiveness of pharmacotherapy for ADHD in children is seriously lacking".

It concluded there were no "good quality" studies that examined the
long-term safety of ADHD drugs.

The review was conducted by the Drug Effectiveness Review Project at Oregon
State University -- a research group set up by 12 US states to provide
independent information about some of the more commonly used drugs.

The group analysed published and unpublished data from six pharmaceutical
manufacturers.

It rejected 2107 studies as unreliable and reviewed the remaining 180
reports.

"Good-quality evidence on the use of drugs to affect outcomes relating to
global academic performance, consequences of risky behaviours, social
achievements etc is lacking," the study found.

ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric condition among school-aged
children.

In 2000, a federal government report, the National Survey of Mental Health
and Wellbeing, surveyed 4000 people in Australia and found that 11 per cent
of parents thought their child had ADHD.

Controversy surrounds the condition because most children will, at some
time, experience the symptoms of ADHD, which include lack of concentration,
hyperactivity and impulsiveness.

Martin Whitely, chair of the Drug Free Attention Deficit Support group in
Western Australia, said doctors were prescribing medication too often.

"You have to find out what's happening with the child -- why they are
exhibiting these behaviours -- and match the treatment to the cause," he
said.

"Kids may be inattentive because they have hearing or eyesight problems or
something is happening at home.

"You have to find out what's causing the behaviours, not just label a kid
ADHD and then assume there's one treatment."

Mr Whitely said about 60,000 children in Australia were taking medication
for ADHD. "Doctors are increasingly prescribing drugs to treat a wider range
of behaviours."

Last month, Ritalin was listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme,
reducing the cost of the drug from $49 to just $21.90 for general patients
and $4.60 for welfare recipients.

Prescriptions for dexamphetamine, a rival ADHD drug that already receives a
subsidy, have skyrocketed during the past decade, from 46,000 prescriptions
in 1994 to about 246,000 last year.

Learning and Attentional Disorders Society president Michelle Toner said
medication, combined with therapy, was an effective treatment for many
children with ADHD.

"There are many controlled studies that show the medications are effective
and doctors regard them as a safe medication," she said.

"Doctors have used dexamphetamine since 1937 on children for symptoms of
ADHD, even though it wasn't called that, and Ritalin has been used on
children since the 1950s.

"For a medication to have been around for that long, if there were sinister
things happening to children on a regular basis, that would be known."