Stimulant Drug Treatment of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD), Inattentive Type

Who cannot join

• Scores more than 1 SD (84th percentile) above the mean on the DSM-IV-Hyperactive-Impulsive scale on the Conners Parent or Teacher Rating Scales-Long Form.
• Combined Subtype:
• WISC-III full-scale IQ less than 80.
• Major acute or chronic medical condition, including sensory loss, and neurological disorder, or any medical condition that would preclude the use of stimulant medication.
• Comorbidity: The study rationale for inclusion/exclusion of comorbid psychological/psychiatric conditions is as follows: children for whom the study treatment is contraindicated, or for whom treatment not provided in the study is required immediately, will not be entered in the trial. Thus, as an example, comorbid depression or anxiety disorder is permitted provided immediate treatment of the depressive or anxiety disorder is not required. Tic disorders of mild to moderate severity, and stable, would be eligible for inclusion, as this would not constitute a contraindication to receiving stimulants. However, children with pronounced or unstable tics would not be eligible for the trial.
• Children with any of the following conditions will be excluded from the study: psychosis, any pervasive developmental disorder, and bipolar disorder. Thus children will be permitted in the study if they have a comorbid learning disability, oppositional defiant disorder, or conduct disorder. The Wechsler Individual Achievement Tests will be administered in order that we can characterize our sample with respect to the presence of comorbid learning disabilities.
• Concomitant medications: Systemically absorbed medication will be exclusionary, while non-systemically absorbed medications will generally be permitted. Children who have taken any experimental medication in the past month will be excluded. Any prior psychotropic medication must have a suitable washout period of at least 4 half-lives before assessment can begin (generally a minimum of 2 weeks; up to 4 weeks for fluoxetine). Children taking methylphenidate at the time of inquiry may be withdrawn from medication only if treatment response is less than optimal and a re-evaluation is deemed clinically necessary. Children taking other psychotropic medication may be discontinued, provided their prescribing physician is in agreement with this plan, and provided there is clinical indication for doing so (i.e., either inadequate response, adverse effects or problematic time-action properties).