Meds may give attention a lasting boost.

An estimated 1 in 50 school-age children in the United States receive stimulant medication to help quell inattentiveness and hyperactivity. A month or two of this treatment helps many youngsters, although researchers have yet to show that stimulants exert benefits over the long haul.

Now, a study conducted in Sweden indicates that an amphetamine given to lads diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often reduces their core behavior problems during and after the treatment. About one in seven children taking the medication did not improve or dropped out of the study because of severe side effects, report psychiatrist Christopher Gillberg of the University of Goteborg and his coworkers.

The investigation, published in the September Archives of General Psychiatry, consisted of 52 boys and 10 girls treated at one of four sites. Youngsters ranged in age from 6 to 11. They displayed severe problems with inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness. More than half had a developmental or behavioral disorder in addition to ADHD, a pattern frequently noted in prior studies.

Each child received amphetamine treatment for 3 months so that a proper dosage could be established. The children were then assigned at random to receive either the amphetamine or an inactive substance for 1 year, followed by 3 months of the inactive substance for everyone.

The scientists found at the end of the program that behaviors typical of ADHD had subsided to a much greater extent, both at home and at school, in kids who had taken the medication. Intelligence test scores also improved for the amphetamine group.

Still, the study found no conclusive evidence of stimulants' unique long-term benefits in treating ADHD, remarks Michael Rutter of the Institute of Psychiatry in London in an accompanying comment. The study did not, for example, examine whether the benefits of amphetamines exceed those of a psychological intervention, such as training families and teachers to deal with a child's behavioral problems.

A study now under way in the United States is examining 7- to 9-year-olds diagnosed with ADHD during 14 months of medication alone, a comprehensive counseling and training program alone, a combination of both, or no treatment; it will follow them for the subsequent 10 months as well.