Jun 20, 2022 06:00:00

Studies show that children taking ADHD treatments are at increased risk of depression

A study investigating the association between depression and children taking

Ritalin (methylphenidate) , an ADHD treatment, found that 'children taking Ritalin are at increased risk of depression.' .. When children stopped taking Ritalin, their risk of depression dropped to a level that was not much different from that of healthy children.

Association between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Medication and Depression: A 10-year Follow-up Self-controlled Case Study --PMC
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9048009/

Risk of Depression Spikes When Kids Take Ritalin --Mad In America
https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/05/risk-depression-ritalin/

Study Examines Relationship Between Methylphenidate and Risk of Depression
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/study-examines-relationship-between-methylphenidate-and-risk-of-depression

Ritalin is a drug used to treat narcolepsy in Japan and is widely prescribed to children as a treatment for ADHD in the United States and South Korea. A research team led by Yunhye Oh and Yoo-Sook Joung of the National Mental Health Center of Korea, and Jinseob Kim of Seoul National University, based on all Korean medical records, prescribes Ritalin for children and risks depression. I analyzed the relationship.

First, the research team collected data on 43,259 children aged 6 to 19 years who were diagnosed with ADHD between July 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007, from among which '2007. Ritalin was prescribed at least once during the period from July 1st to December 31st, 2016. '' No history of depression diagnosis in the past. '' Atmoxetine (Stratera) , which has been pointed out to be associated with depression. We analyzed the data of 2330 people extracted under the conditions such as 'not receiving the prescription' and 'there is no specific event that causes depression'. We investigated how prone to depression compared to healthy children in the control group.

The analysis found that children diagnosed with ADHD were about 12 times more likely to develop depression than healthy children in the 90 days before receiving Ritalin in the first place. This may be due to behavioral problems at school or at home that led to the diagnosis of ADHD.

If children with ADHD had depression only because of their medical condition, taking Ritalin should have reduced their risk of depression. However, when children with ADHD started taking Ritalin, they found that their risk of depression was 18 times higher than that of healthy children, rather than reduced.

This result alone suggests that the underlying cause of depression remains the same while taking Ritalin, which may increase the risk of depression. However, it turns out that when children stop taking Ritalin, their risk of depression is reduced to almost the same level as healthy children. In other words, it was shown that taking Ritalin is quite likely to be associated with an increased risk of depression.

'Our study suggests that the use of methylphenidate drugs in adolescents with ADHD is temporally associated with the development of depression. Global use of ADHD treatments. With the increase, the benefits of methylphenidate should be evaluated carefully compared to the potential risk of depression in children and adolescents. '