In an 18-year-study on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), Mayo Clinic researchers found that treatment with prescription stimulants is associated with improved long-term academic success of children with AD/HD.
The Mayo Clinic results are the first population-based data to show stimulant drug therapy helps improve long-term school outcomes.
A related Mayo Clinic study reveals that compared to children without AD/HD, children with AD/HD are at risk for poor long-term school outcomes such as low achievement in reading, absenteeism, repeating a grade, and dropping out of school. Both studies appear in the current edition of the Journal of Development & Behavioral Pediatrics.
Nearly 2 million children, or approximately 3 percent to 5 percent of young children in the United States, have AD/HD. This disorder affects a child’s ability to focus, concentrate and control impulsive behavior. This disorder is so common that most school classrooms have at least one child with clinically-diagnosed AD/HD.
“In this study, treatment with stimulant medication during childhood was associated with more favorable long-term school outcomes,” explains William Barbaresi, M.D., Mayo Clinic pediatrician and lead author of the reports.