Systematic Review Finds Bupropion is Effective for ADHD in Young People
A 2016 systematic review by Qin Xiang Ng in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology found that the antidepressant bupropion (Wellbutrin) can improve attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents.
The review identified 25,455 studies of bupropion for ADHD, but only six included children. All six studies showed that bupropion improved ADHD symptoms in children and adolescents. Head-to-head trials of bupropion and methylphenidate (one of the most common medications to treat ADHD, which most people know by the name Ritalin) found the drugs had similar efficacy rates, although a large double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter study found that bupropion had a smaller effect size than methylphenidate.
In terms of side effects, methylphenidate was more likely to cause headaches than bupropion, but otherwise the drugs were similar.
Ng suggests that bupropion should be considered for the treatment of ADHD in children and adolescents, but more large trials of the drug are needed. Bupropion may also help children whose ADHD appears alongside conduct, substance abuse, or depressive disorders.
Methylphenidate Does Not Cause Mania When Taken with a Mood Stabilizer
Methylphenidate is an effective treatment for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Ritalin may be the most commonly recognized trade name for methylphenidate, but it is also sold under the names Concerta, Daytrana, Methylin, and Aptensio. A 2016 article in the American Journal of Psychiatry reports that methylphenidate can safely be taken by people with bipolar disorder and comorbid ADHD as long as it is paired with mood-stabilizing treatment.
The study was based on data from a Swedish national registry. Researchers led by Alexander Viktorin identified 2,307 adults with bipolar disorder who began taking methylphenidate between 2006 and 2014. Of these, 1,103 were taking mood stabilizers including antipsychotic medications, lithium, or valproate, while 718 were not taking any mood stabilizing medications.
Among those who began taking methylphenidate without mood stabilizers, manic episodes increased over the next six months. In contrast, patients taking mood stabilizers had their risk of mania decrease after beginning treatment with methylphenidate.
Viktorin and colleagues suggest that 20% of patients with bipolar disorder may also have ADHD, so it is not surprising that 8% of patients with bipolar disorder in Sweden receive a methylphenidate prescription.
Mood-stabilizing drugs can worsen attention and concentration, so methylphenidate treatment can be helpful if it can be done without increasing manic episodes. However, Viktorin and colleagues suggest that due to the risk of increasing mania, anyone given a prescription for methylphenidate monotherapy should be carefully screened to rule out bipolar disorder.
The researchers confirmed that taking methylphenidate for ADHD while taking a mood stabilizer for bipolar disorder is a safe combination.
Effect Size of Autism Treatments
At the 2014 meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Fung et al. presented a meta-analysis of treatments for autism that ranked them in terms of statistical effect size, ranging from 0.9 (large), to 0.5 to 0.8 (medium), to <0.4 (small). The only drug with a large effect size was risperidone, at 0.9. Most effect sizes were medium, including aripiprazole at 0.8 and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) at 0.7. Both clonidine and methylphenidate had effect sizes of 0.6, and tianeptine’s was 0.5.
Fung and colleagues noted that the first two on the list, the atypical antipsychotics risperidone and aripiprazole, often have problematic side effects (such as sedation, weight gain, and motor symptoms) that must be balanced against their effectiveness. In contrast, NAC is well tolerated with few side effects, and two placebo controlled studies showed that it was effective both alone and as an adjunctive treatment to the antipsychotic risperidone.
