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At-Home Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Helps Attention in Adults with ADHD
Four weeks of daily, home-based transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improved attention in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) not taking stimulant medication, according to a small sham-controlled trial published online in JAMA Psychiatry.
“tDCS was a safe and well-tolerated effective treatment for inattention in adults with ADHD in this trial,” wrote lead author Douglas Teixeira Leffa, MD, PhD, of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre in Brazil, and coauthors.
The double-blind study included 64 adult patients with ADHD from a single-center outpatient academic setting. The average age of participants was 38.3 years, and 48% had ADHD inattentive subtype and 52% had ADHD combined subtype. No patients were taking stimulant drug treatment.
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Participants, 47% of whom were women, were randomly assigned 30-minute daily sessions of home-based tDCS or sham tDCS over 4 weeks.
At week 4, average inattention scores on the clinician-administered version of the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale version 1.1 were 18.88 in the active tDCS group and 23.63 in the sham tDCS group, according to the study. Compared with the sham tDCS group, the active tDCS group demonstrated decreased inattention symptoms over the three assessments, suggesting a treatment by time interaction.
Skin redness, headache, and scalp burn were mild adverse events more frequently reported by patients in the active tDCS group. Active treatment was not associated with serious adverse events.
“Home-based tDCS could be a nonpharmacological alternative for patients with ADHD,” researchers concluded.
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