Time for a Change: New ADHD Guidelines Reformulated to Include Older Children

The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued an updated set of guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of the controversial attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. And this time, it will include younger toddlers, preschool children and adolescents. This is the first time in a decade that the rules for the condition were updated.
The original guidelines, which is released in 2001, were only available to children aged 6 to 12 due to the available evidence during that time. Because of numerous reports and mounting evidence about ADHD symptoms among preschool children and adolescents, the rules were updated to cover those categories.
Key points in the guidelines includes assessing children for presence of other conditions that might coexist with ADHD, obtaining information primarily from people who were involved in child’s care and use of FDA prescribed medication with consent to adolescents. Clinicians are urged to use evidence-based therapy and consider using parent- or teacher-administered behavior therapy to toddlers. In addition, medications should be carefully titrated to achieve maximum benefit with the least undesirable effects.
Important factors that prompted an update in the guidelines includes rapid changing lifestyle of people and the fact that most medical facilities today are understaffed and overburdened with large numbers of patients. Therefore practitioners should be careful in diagnosing ADHD based on clinical judgment alone.
Today, things that demand sustained attention like TV, gaming devices and computers are rapidly increasing. That might cause increased reports of ADHD in children, experts warn, because today’s kids are expected not just to finish college but to have lots of activities too.
In addition, drugs approved for treatment of ADHD has increased for the past ten years. This is due to the view of clinicians that ADHD is a chronic condition, and therefore it requires long-term treatment. It is also recently known that treating the behavioral condition at an early age increases chances of treatment, so the child can perform well at school.
The guidelines are available online in the October issue of Pediatrics.

Here is the link to the original copy:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/751596?src=rss