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Certain Children With ADHD Should be Prioritized for Behavioral Treatment
Although behavioral treatments are effective for reducing symptoms in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) overall, certain children should be given priority for such interventions, according to findings from an individual participant data meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
“We found significant moderators of outcome that can be translated to a clear clinical message, although these moderators seemed to have the strongest impact on the control condition rather than the active treatment condition; in particular, children with high levels of conduct disorder symptoms or diagnosis, children with single parents, and children with high levels of ADHD symptoms should be prioritized for behavioral treatment,” researchers wrote. “For these children, treatment seems to prevent them from further deterioration in terms of ADHD symptoms, behavioral problems, and/or impairment.”
The individual participant data meta-analysis included more than 2200 children and adolescents with ADHD from 21 randomized controlled trials. Researchers looked at the effects of behavioral treatment on ADHD symptoms, behavioral problems, and global impairment.
On the whole, behavioral treatment helped reduce attention problems, hyperactivity, impulsiveness, behavioral problems, and functional impairment as perceived by parents or teachers, the meta-analysis found.
Related: Specific Brain Pathways Predict ADHD Impulsivity
“Improvement in impairment is notable, as impairment in functioning is generally what prompts treatment seeking,” researchers pointed out, “and is arguably the most salient outcome in behavioral treatment.”
However, when investigators looked at subgroups of children, they discovered that those with symptoms of conduct disorder, more severe ADHD, or single-parent families worsened without behavioral treatment.
“These findings emphasize the importance of direct access to behavioral treatment for children with ADHD who have more severe ADHD or conduct disorder symptoms, as it prevents deterioration [due to] their problems,” said researcher Barbara van der Hoofdakker, PhD, University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
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