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American Morning

Controversy Over Treating ADHD

Aired November 18, 2002 - 08:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to talk about ADHD right now, attention deficit hyperactivy disorder, a common diagnosis among school-aged children. Ritalin oftentimes prescribed for such kids. While there is plenty of controversy about it, there is a practice drawing more fire today, medicating preschoolers with Ritalin, even at a younger age.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in our House Call this morning. The good doctor is in now.

Good to see you, Sanjay. Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Yes, a lot of fire over this, no question about it. And there have been anecdotal reports, Bill, of preschoolers using Ritalin, even since the '70s, but the medication itself is really only approved for kids that are 6 years old and over. Now, there have been off-label uses of Ritalin in the past, meaning that doctors could prescribe it to people even younger than 6 if they believed it was warranted. They did a study in 2000 and found that 1.2 percent of all 2 to 4-year-olds in the study, about the amount of the entire nation, were actually taking Ritalin, 1.2 percent of 2 to 4-year-olds taking Ritalin.

As you mentioned, Bill, that caused quite a bit of an uproar. There are people very surprised that people that young and that number were actually taking this medication.

So as you mentioned, there is a new study out now that is called PATS. stands for Preschool ADHD Treatment Study. And basically, what this study is going to determine is the guidelines for how, when, and if people that young, 2 to 4-year-olds, again, should be taking the medication -- Bill.

HEMMER: So then the new study would tell us what about guidelines? Here are a few on the screen right now. I don't know how you can work this in, the criteria for selection?

GUPTA: Right. And there aren't guidelines yet. and that's exactly what this study is supposed to determine. These are some of the rough guidelines that they are working with in terms of selecting who is even going to be a part of the study. You can read the list there. Only the severe cases, you can see the entire list there. The child does not respond to behavioral interventions, and has to last at least nine months.

Bill, let me say as well, there are a lot of people really on both sides of the aisle there, and that's why this is so controversial, very well known psychologists think still today that ADHD is really a fictional diagnosis. If you look at some of the traits of ADHD, fails to pay close attention, often careless, fidgets, blurts out answers, those are some of the characteristics of ADHD. As one well-know psychologists put it, that really isn't a disease, he says that's a pattern that annoys adults, and we really need to distinguish between the two, especially when it comes to people that young -- Bill.

HEMMER: I think you just described me.

GUPTA: We've had some concerns.

HEMMER: I know you have.

GUPTA: Annoying adults.

HEMMER: Get away from medicine, though -- are there other solutions to the issue here of trying to keep a kid more calm for concentration concerns and learning?

GUPTA: No question about it. And again, this is all so controversial. And I really want to play both sides of the aisle here. But even for this particular study, the kids were mandated to go through 10 weeks of behavioral therapy before they were given either the medication or a placebo. So 10 weeks of therapy. People believe that all ADHD can actually be treated through behavioral programs. Other people say that absolutely is not true.

What we know is that people who are treated successfully for ADHD often tend to do better in school, are more likely to go on to college and are less likely to abuse drugs later on in life. So the treatment of ADHD, either through medications or otherwise, is a very important thing.

HEMMER: Good to see you, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Good to see you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 18, 2002 - 08:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to talk about ADHD right now, attention deficit hyperactivy disorder, a common diagnosis among school-aged children. Ritalin oftentimes prescribed for such kids. While there is plenty of controversy about it, there is a practice drawing more fire today, medicating preschoolers with Ritalin, even at a younger age.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in our House Call this morning. The good doctor is in now.

Good to see you, Sanjay. Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Yes, a lot of fire over this, no question about it. And there have been anecdotal reports, Bill, of preschoolers using Ritalin, even since the '70s, but the medication itself is really only approved for kids that are 6 years old and over. Now, there have been off-label uses of Ritalin in the past, meaning that doctors could prescribe it to people even younger than 6 if they believed it was warranted. They did a study in 2000 and found that 1.2 percent of all 2 to 4-year-olds in the study, about the amount of the entire nation, were actually taking Ritalin, 1.2 percent of 2 to 4-year-olds taking Ritalin.

As you mentioned, Bill, that caused quite a bit of an uproar. There are people very surprised that people that young and that number were actually taking this medication.

So as you mentioned, there is a new study out now that is called PATS. stands for Preschool ADHD Treatment Study. And basically, what this study is going to determine is the guidelines for how, when, and if people that young, 2 to 4-year-olds, again, should be taking the medication -- Bill.

HEMMER: So then the new study would tell us what about guidelines? Here are a few on the screen right now. I don't know how you can work this in, the criteria for selection?

GUPTA: Right. And there aren't guidelines yet. and that's exactly what this study is supposed to determine. These are some of the rough guidelines that they are working with in terms of selecting who is even going to be a part of the study. You can read the list there. Only the severe cases, you can see the entire list there. The child does not respond to behavioral interventions, and has to last at least nine months.

Bill, let me say as well, there are a lot of people really on both sides of the aisle there, and that's why this is so controversial, very well known psychologists think still today that ADHD is really a fictional diagnosis. If you look at some of the traits of ADHD, fails to pay close attention, often careless, fidgets, blurts out answers, those are some of the characteristics of ADHD. As one well-know psychologists put it, that really isn't a disease, he says that's a pattern that annoys adults, and we really need to distinguish between the two, especially when it comes to people that young -- Bill.

HEMMER: I think you just described me.

GUPTA: We've had some concerns.

HEMMER: I know you have.

GUPTA: Annoying adults.

HEMMER: Get away from medicine, though -- are there other solutions to the issue here of trying to keep a kid more calm for concentration concerns and learning?

GUPTA: No question about it. And again, this is all so controversial. And I really want to play both sides of the aisle here. But even for this particular study, the kids were mandated to go through 10 weeks of behavioral therapy before they were given either the medication or a placebo. So 10 weeks of therapy. People believe that all ADHD can actually be treated through behavioral programs. Other people say that absolutely is not true.

What we know is that people who are treated successfully for ADHD often tend to do better in school, are more likely to go on to college and are less likely to abuse drugs later on in life. So the treatment of ADHD, either through medications or otherwise, is a very important thing.

HEMMER: Good to see you, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Good to see you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com