"To date, well-designed, controlled studies of ADHD medications in adolescents have been extremely rare," said lead investigator Stephen Grcevich, M.D., Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and President and Founder of The Family Center by the Falls, in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. "While the vast majority of safety and efficacy studies with ADHD medications have been conducted in school age children, and more recently, in adult populations, physicians are being asked with increasing frequency to treat adolescents with significant functional impairment associated with ADHD. For this reason, it is critically important to access this long-term data to guide physicians in our treatment of this specific population group."
ADHD is considered the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorder in children and adolescents, and affects approximately three to seven percent of all school-age children, or approximately two million children in the U.S. Results from follow-up studies of subjects with ADHD published over the past two decades suggest that up to 80 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD will continue to exhibit symptoms in adolescence and up to 65 percent in adulthood.-
The three main symptoms of ADHD include inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. If left untreated, these symptoms may seriously and adversely affect patients as well as their families and friends. Findings from a national survey, "Capturing America's Attention," released earlier this year found that adults with ADHD tend to report lower educ
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Contact: Marion E. Glick
917-301-4206
Porter Novelli
20-Oct-2004