BMJ  2008;336:980-981 (3 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.39566.364398.DB

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Children should have electrocardiography before taking drugs for hyperactivity

Janice Hopkins Tanne

1 New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder should have an electrocardiogram taken and a cardiac evaluation before they begin to take drugs for the disorder, the American Heart Association said in a scientific statement published on 21 April.

The stimulant drugs used to treat the disorder can increase heart rate and blood pressure and may be a concern if children have a heart condition, says the statement, published online in Circulation (doi: 10.1161/circulationaha.107.189473).

As many as 2% of apparently healthy school age children have potentially serious undiagnosed heart conditions that can be identified by electrocardiography but that may not be detected on routine physical examination, said Victoria Vetter, head of the committee that wrote the statement and professor of paediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia. An electrocardiogram is needed to detect conditions such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, long QT syndrome, and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, the statement says.

Data . . . [Full text of this article]


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