Medical treatments that are prescribed to treat dyslexic children have been linked to a greater risk of having ADHD, a new study finds.
The findings have drawn a sharp contrast with earlier studies that linked medication for dysleratosis and ADHD.
The new study looked at data from 2,000 children and their parents who were enrolled in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
“There’s a huge gap in what we know about the potential effects of medications on ADHD and dyslexics,” said study author Dr. Eric Fiske, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The study found that a group of medications prescribed to ADHD patients had a greater prevalence of ADHD than those prescribed to dyslexiacs. “
That said, the data is very preliminary and not yet conclusive.”
The study found that a group of medications prescribed to ADHD patients had a greater prevalence of ADHD than those prescribed to dyslexiacs.
“This is the first study to demonstrate the positive association between ADHD medication and ADHD,” Fiskes said.
“The most important implication of this is that it indicates that the ADHD treatment program that is so successful in many countries is really effective in dyslexias, which is an extremely rare disorder.”
Diagnosing ADHD with medications The study also found that children who were prescribed medication for ADHD also had a higher risk of ADHD and related cognitive impairment.
In contrast, children who received the medications for dyslesia did not show an increased risk of either disorder.
Diabetic patients also had higher rates of ADHD, the study found.
Researchers also found increased rates of dyslexiectomy among people who were treated with medications for ADHD.
“It’s interesting that dyslexis patients were more likely to have a diagnosis of ADHD or dyslexy,” Fieske said.
While the study is not definitive, Fisks findings suggest that the medications used to treat ADHD may increase the risk of the disorder.
“I think it is very, very interesting that there is a relationship between the number of prescriptions of medications that we’ve seen and increased risk,” he said.
The findings were published online March 22 in the journal Pediatrics.
