[A pilot study on effect of methylphenidate on balance function of children with attention deficit hyperactivity
Lei Feng1, Yu-feng Wang, Qing-jiu Cao
1Institute of Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100083, China.
Objective:
To explore the effect of methylphenidate on the balance function of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and the correlation between the variations of balance function and subjective clinical assessment before and after treatment.
Methods:
From July to December 2006, 23 children (19 boys and 4 girls) who met DSM-IV criteria for ADHD participated in an open study conducted at Institute of Mental Health, Peking University. The variation of their balance functions before and after methylphenidate extended-release tablets (OROS methylphenidate) treatment were evaluated, and the differences of balance functions between 19 ADHD boys pre- and post-treatment and 38 age-matched typically developing control boys were compared. Balance functions were assessed with sensory organization test (SOT) provided by SMART EquiTest system. Subjective clinical assessments were measured with ADHD rating scale-IV and IOWA Conners rating scale.
Results:
The equilibrium score (ES) in SOT5, SOT6, and composite score (61.84+/-14.19, 65.88+/-15.41, and 75.70+/-10.30, respectively), and the strategy score (SS) in SOT4 and SOT5 (89.20+/-3.17 and 83.22+/-6.56), and the sensory analysis of vestibular ratio (67.64+/-14.43) improved significantly after OROS methylphenidate treatment compared to those before treatment (49.81+/-16.26, 57.61+/-16.72, 68.70+/-11.96, 86.84+/-4.49, 78.55+/-6.55, and 54.46+/-17.27, respectively, P<0.05); Before treatment, the ES in SOT1-6 (90.72 +/-2.49,85.47+/-6.11,83.42+/-9.95,70.18+/-18.03,47.89+/-16.93 and 57.00+/-15.68) and composite score (67.95+/-12.17), and the SS in SOT1 (98.02+/-1.52), and the sensory analysis of vestibular and visual ratios (77.20+/-19.23 and 52.62+/-18.15) of ADHD boys were significantly lower than those of typical control boys (93.14+/-2.45, 89.59+/-4.22, 89.13+/-5.06, 83.11+/-5.75, 60.11+/-10.11, 69.75+/-12.03, 77.71+/-6.20, 98.68+/-0.39, 89.22+/-5.43 and 64.41+/-10.03, respectively, P<0.05); After treatment, only in SOT1 the ES (90.82+/-2.98) and SS (97.91+/-1.16) of ADHD boys were significantly lower than those of control boys (93.14+/-2.45 and 98.68+/- 0.39, P<0.05).We did not observe significant correlations between the improvement percentages of SOT results and score reduction percentages on ADHD rating scale-IV and IOWA Conners rating scale before and after treatment (P>0.05).
Conclusion:
This study suggests that methylphenidate can improve the balance function of children with ADHD through direct effect on the balance system.
