Long-term use of ADHD medication increases risk of cardiovascular disease

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Long-term use of medications for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) could increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, according to a new study.

ADHD is a mental disorder whose symptoms include being easily distracted, hyperactive, and unable to control impulse and behavior, which is common in children and adolescents.

Medical news portal MedPage Today reported on Thursday that Professor Zhang Le and his team from the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden analyzed the medical records of 278,277 people aged six to 64 years who were diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed ADHD medications between 2007 and 2020.

Of those in this group, 10,388 were diagnosed with heart failure, arterial disease, arrhythmia, and high blood pressure.

The team measured these patients against 51,672 ADHD patients without cardiovascular disease for a comparative analysis. Their average age was 34.6 years, and 59.2 percent of them were male, with the team following the two groups for an average of 4.1 years.

Overall, each additional year of ADHD medication was associated with a 4 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The risk of cardiovascular disease increased by 9 percent for one to two years of use, 15 percent for two to three years, 27 percent for three to five years, and 23 percent for five or more years.

High blood pressure and arterial disease were the most significant cardiovascular risk factors associated with ADHD medications.

The risk of high blood pressure was 72 percent higher for those taking the medication for three to five years and 80 percent higher for taking it for more than five years. The risk of arterial disease increased by 65 percent after three to five years of use and by 49 percent after five years or longer.

ADHD medications, in the meantime, were not associated with arrhythmias, heart failure, venous thromboembolism, or cerebrovascular events, but the team warned that an increased risk of mild arrhythmias, or subclinical arrhythmias, cannot be ruled out.

In light of these research results, clinicians should continue to monitor patients for signs or symptoms of cardiovascular disease throughout the duration of their prescription for ADHD medication, according to the team.

The findings were published in the current issue of international medical journal JAMA Psychiatry.