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Do stimulant drugs pose cardiovascular risk in children? To answer this question, investigators cross-linked 10 years of Florida Medicaid claims data to vital statistics data among 55,383 children (age range, 3–20 years) who were newly diagnosed with ADHD.
No cardiac deaths occurred during 42,612 person-years of follow-up among current users, three cardiac deaths occurred during 35,671 years of follow-up among former users, and two cardiac deaths occurred among nonusers of stimulants (46,649 person-years). Hospital admissions for cardiac causes were similar in the three groups. Compared with nonusers, current stimulant users were 20% more likely to visit the emergency department (ED) for cardiac causes.