Attention Deficit Disorder

You've seen the play a million times. Routine ground ball. First baseman picks up the ball, runs it to the bag for the out, "3U" in your scorebook. Adam LaRoche picked up the ball, but he did not run. "I was kind of out of it," he said. He walked the ball to the bag. The runner beat him there. "I wasn't even thinking there was a runner," LaRoche said. The crowd booed, his home crowd. LaRoche apologized to his pitcher, then his manager. "It looked like I was being lazy," he said.

The makers of Ritalin, Adderall, Strattera and other drugs treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder were advised by the government Wednesday to give patients and their parents an additional warning that those medicines could cause serious psychiatric and heart problems, including sudden death.

Following up on safety concerns about prescription drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, U.S. health officials announced Monday that the government was launching a two-year study to determine whether the medications posed heart risks for adults and children. Most ADHD medications are powerful stimulants that can increase blood pressure, and last year a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended stronger warnings for them.

"Arthur" and "Barney" are OK for toddler TV-watching. But not "Rugrats" and certainly not "Power Rangers," reports a new study of early TV-watching and future attention problems. The research involved children younger than 3, so TV is mostly a no-no anyway, according to the experts. But if TV is allowed, it should be of the educational variety, according to the study by University of Washington researchers that appeared Monday in November's issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The brains of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder develop more slowly than those of other children but eventually catch up, according to a government study published Monday that suggests ADHD may be a transient condition, at least for some. Using advanced imaging techniques, scientists found that the cortices of children with ADHD reach peak thickness an average of three years later than children without the disorder.

Twenty-five people -- including 19 children -- died suddenly while using hyperactivity drugs, according to a Food and Drug Administration report. Additionally, 43 people taking the drugs for attention-deficit (hyperactivity) disorder experienced serious cardiovascular events, including strokes, cardiac arrest and heart palpitations, the report said. Twenty-six serious cardiovascular problems were reported in children, including two heart attacks and two strokes.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel Thursday urged that the strongest possible safety warning be issued for drugs used by millions of children and adults to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, because of emerging concern that they may increase the risks of heart attacks, strokes and sudden death. The FDA had called the drug safety experts together to help design further research into such risks.

Irvine-based Cortex Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced positive results Monday from initial clinical trials for a drug to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The test, conducted on 65 people across the U.S., showed that the drug significantly reduced key ADHD symptoms, said Lenard Adler of the New York University School of Medicine, who ran one of the trials. Cortex immediately announced it would take the drug, one of a family of drugs called ampakines, into larger trials.

When a panel of medical experts voted last month to recommend a safety warning on medications used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Dr. Adelaide Robb could have predicted the public's response: panic. The government-appointed panel's conclusion -- that the drugs may increase the risk of sudden cardiac death -- hit the newspapers on a Friday morning.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Wednesday urged beefed-up warnings for drugs used to treat attention deficit disorder after hearing about hundreds of cases in which children using the medications experienced frightening hallucinations, often involving bugs and snakes.