select search filters
briefings
roundups & rapid reactions
before the headlines
Fiona fox's blog
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was once thought to be a childhood disorder only. However, it is now well-known that ADHD can persist into adulthood, affecting approximately 2.5% of the general adult population worldwide. Treatment options for individuals with ADHD include medication and non-pharmacological approaches, such as psychotherapy. Over the past few years, there has been a growing number of trials on adults with ADHD and there is a pressing need to better understand how to manage these patients.
This new study, which was published in the Lancet Psychiatry, is a comprehensive systematic review and component network meta-analysis which has compared available drugs and non-pharmacological interventions (such as, cognitive behavioural therapy, cognitive remediation, mindfulness, psychoeducation, and transcranial direct current stimulation) for the treatment of ADHD in adults, in terms of symptom severity, executive dysfunction (e.g., working memory problems), emotional dysregulation, quality of life and side effects.
Researchers included 113 RCTs, comprising 14,887 participants, allocated to one of 16 active interventions (pharmacological therapies, psychological therapies, neurostimulatory therapy and neurofeedback) or a control condition.
Journalists came to this hybrid briefing to hear from authors of the study and put their questions to them.
Speakers included:
Professor Andrea Cipriani, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Oxford and Director of the NIHR Oxford Health Clinical Research Facility
Dr Edoardo Ostinelli, Deputy Lead, Oxford Precision Psychiatry Lab, University of Oxford
Professor Samuele Cortese, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Southampton and Chair of the European ADHD Guidelines Group
Professor Alexandra Pjilkopsen, Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Hospital Bonn
Ms Andrea Bilbow, CEO of ADDISS, The National Attention Deficit Disorder Information and Support Service