AHA Says Children Should Be Screened For Heart Problems Prior To Ritalin

Jump to Comments

Children should be screened for heart problems before they are prescribed drugs like Ritalin recommends the American Heart Association. While rare in children those with heart disease could suffer from sudden cardiac arrest from the medication.

Prior to being given drugs for hyperactivity and attention-deficit disorder patients should be given a through heart exam including an EKG. The medicine already carried a warning for possible heart risks with those who have heart defects or other heart problems.

“We don’t want to keep children who have this from being treated. We want to do it as safely as possible.” said Dr. Victoria Vetter, a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and head of the committee making the recommendation.

Between 1999 and 2003 19 children died from sudden death while taking ADHD drugs and 26 other child patients had strokes and fast heart rates.

Vetter says that through screening about two percent of 1,100 children were found to have some kind of heart problem. The doctor recommends that children already taking the medicines should be tested also.

“We thought it was reasonable to include the electrocardiogram as a tool for the pediatrician, the psychiatrist so that this would help identify additional children who have heart disease,” Vetter said.

Dr. Steven Pliszka, a child psychiatrist at the University of Texas in San Antonio is not convinced that an EKG is necessary for the children. He doesn’t see a bigger risk for the children who have been prescribed the stimulant medicine. Since most psychiatrists do not have an EKG the test will be considered an added expense and hassle for those who prescribe the medication.

CHADD, an advocacy group for ADHD says that parents should monitor their child’s reaction to all the medications they are on. The EKG screening “will bring an even further measure of safety to what is already a safe clinical treatment approach.”

Recent updates to the treatment guidelines for ADHD drugs by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry does not recommend routine EKGs according to Pliszka. Pliszka is the lead author of the treatment guidelines.

“We definitely did not feel we needed to screen everyone,” Pliszka said.

The drug manufacturer of Ritalin, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.’s spokeswoman said that the company could not comment of the heart association statement as they had not seen it yet but did point out that the label itself does suggest that patients be evaluated for heart problems.

0 Comments

Filed under children, health