A new study is finding that medicine for ADHD may lessen the odds of self-harming thoughts. Living with ADHD can be challenging, and children need support and resources to be able to thrive at home and in school. That is why studies are so important, as researchers work to find the right tools to use to help these children. While there has been a lot of done to look at alternative treatments that don’t involve medication, a lot of families still rely on medication to help their children succeed. This is good, because the medication can be a great resource, and a new study is finding that it may also serve other beneficial purposes.
According to Medical Xpress, a new study has found that ADHD medications may be associated with a reduced risk of suicide in certain children. This study was completed by the Lifespan Brain Institute, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the University of Pennsylvania and can be read in full here.
The research is showing that ADHD medications may lower this risk in children who have hyperactivity, oppositional defiance, as well as other behavioral disorders. Also, the researchers believe that this is important information as the rates of child suicide are on the rise.
Ran Barzilay was a senior author of the study and they stated that this is an important step in an effort to prevent childhood suicide. They collected data from about 12,000 US children to be able to find a target to reduce the rates of this happening.
Ran stated that when a disorder is diagnosed early and medical treatment is started, it can decrease the chance the child may commit suicide. This is especially true for children who are showing a lot of extreme symptoms.
The rates are still quite low for children under the age of 9, and that is why researchers are trying to find preventative measures to prevent this from happening. With the rates being low for this age group, it has been hard for researchers to find factors that may make a child high-risk. Studies are difficult to complete due to the ethical concerns about enrolling suicidal children into a placebo-controlled trial.
This means that experts are left with the mass collection of data that they already have access to in order to find possible factors and treatments. This study points to children being better screened when they are showing symptoms of extreme ADHD or other behavior disorders.
Sources: Medical Xpress, JAMA Network