ADHD Treatments Increase Risk of Heart Disease

The American Heart Association issued a statement in their online journal circulation advising medical providers to use an electrocardiogram (or ECG) before any treatment using stimulant drugs in children with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) whenever possible.

Since 1999, concerns for cardiovascular risks in children taking tricyclic antidepressants and other psychotropic stimulants and drugs, recommending all patients treated with psychotropic drugs to be tested via ECG monitoring first. Since then, dozens of studies have suggested that stimulants prescribed for children with ADHD can speed up heart rate and elevate blood pressure. Two percent of children with ADHD taking stimulants have shown to have undetected cardiac conditions that may possibly lead to cardiovascular events. Many doctors and researchers are concerned for sudden cardiac death (SCD), which happens when erratic heartbeats become unable to pump blood efficiently throughout the body.

Since children’s heart conditions usually does not present symptoms, the AHA now recommends adding ECG to diagnosis methods when planning to prescribe stimulants to children with ADHD and regular ECG checkups (at six to twelve months of interval) to detect potential heart conditions that may lead to unwanted cardiac events.

In addition, since it is difficult to determine the number of children with SCD associated with ADHD drug treatments, the AHA also recommends keeping a national database for this information.