Most of these children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and epilepsy improved with methylphenidate and did not experience greater seizure frequency.
Patients with neuropsychiatric disorders may be vulnerable to seizures and can experience attentional impairments. Clinicians might wish to treat such patients with stimulants, but concerns have been raised about a possible stimulant-associated risk for seizures in these vulnerable patients.
The authors reviewed the literature on seizures in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and epilepsy, which demonstrated no general increase in seizure rates. They next performed a prospective, open-label evaluation of 24 school-age children who were diagnosed with ADHD and uncontrolled epilepsy and were prescribed methylphenidate (average age, 14 years; 75% boys; partial epilepsy, 58% of patients). In the 6 months before methylp…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresRoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)
DisclosuresRoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)