NATIONAL BRIEFING / NATIONWIDE
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Children on medicine for attention-deficit disorder scored higher on academic tests than their unmedicated peers in the first large, long-term study suggesting this kind of benefit from the widely used drugs.
The nationally representative study involved nearly 600 children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder who had been followed from kindergarten through fifth grade.
Children’s scores on several standardized math and reading tests taken during those years were examined. Compared with unmedicated children, average scores for medicated children were almost three points higher in math and more than five points higher in reading.
The study appears in the May issue of Pediatrics. The lead author is Richard Scheffler, a professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.
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