Major ADHD breakthrough as scientists eradicate kids’ symptoms in just two weeks
AN ADHD breakthrough has brought fresh hope to children living with the condition, as new treatment appears to ‘significantly improve’ symptoms in just two weeks.
Experts estimate that up to five per cent of school age children have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), characterised by persistent restlessness and trouble concentrating.
Researchers from the University of Surrey and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem joined forces to test whether non-invasive brain stimulation, combined with cognitive training, could significantly improve symptoms of the disorder in kids.
Their clinical trial studied 23 children with ADHD between six and 12 years old who weren’t on medication for it.
The brain stimulation technique involved passing a mild electrical current through the brain through two electrodes.
Over half (55 per cent) of the kids who underwent this showed significant clinical improvements in ADHD symptoms after just two weeks – as reported by their parents.
The treatment was also deemed safe and had “minimal side effects”, according to the study authors.
By comparison, only 17 per cent of children in the control group – who received placebo brain stimulation – saw improvement to their symptoms.
Researchers also observed that improvements to the children’s symptoms persisted for three weeks after the treatment ended.
They also noticed changes in the children’s brain electrical activity patterns at the three-week follow-up.
In fact, 64 per cent of the children reported “clinically meaningful responses to the treatments”, according to the study authors.
This was compared to 33 percent in the control group.
Professor Roi Cohen Kadosh, head of the School of Psychology and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Surrey and co-lead of the study, said: “The findings we demonstrate in our study suggest that a combination of transcranial direct current stimulation (tRNS), which is shown to be safe with minimal side effects, has the potential to transform the lives of children and their families.
“The results from this proof-of-concept study, together with previous results we received using tRNS, increase our confidence that in the future non-invasive brain stimulation may be able to provide an alternative to medication as a treatment pathway for children.”
But he noted that it was important to further test the results on a larger group of children, which the team intended to ‘start soon’.
If successful, he said the medical device would be approved for ADHD by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Dr Kadosh added: “I believe that the scientific community is duty-bound to investigate and develop evermore effective and longer-lasting treatments for ADHD.”
Meanwhile, Dr Mor Nahum, co-lead of the study and Head of the Computerized Neurotherapy Lab at the Hebrew University, called the researchc “an important first step in offering new therapeutic options for ADHD”.
“Future studies, with larger and more varied samples, should help establish this as a viable therapy for ADHD, and help us understand the underlying mechanisms of the disorder,” he went on.
Professor Itai Berger, who recruited participants for the study, indicated that – if approved – the brain stimulation treatment could pave the way for addressing other neuro-developmental disorders in children.
ADHD tends to be treated with medication that can improve a child’s attention span and overall mood – but sometimes it can have side effects like headaches and loss of appetite.
Ornella Dakwar-Kawar, a post-doctoral researcher at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said there was “therefore a pressing need for developing and testing novel, non-pharmacological interventions for ADHD”.
Symptoms of ADHD in children
ADHD symptoms can be categorised into two types of behaviours: inattentiveness and hyperactivity or impulsiveness.
Not everyone who has the disorder will fall into both these categories – the same goes for children.
According to NHS guidance, the symptoms will usually be noticeable in children before they turn six.
The main signs of inattentiveness are:
- having a short attention span and being easily distracted
- making careless mistakes – for example, in schoolwork
- appearing forgetful or losing things
- being unable to stick to tasks that are tedious or time-consuming
- appearing to be unable to listen to or carry out instructions
- constantly changing activity or task
- having difficulty organising tasks
The main signs of hyperactivity and impulsiveness are:
- being unable to sit still, especially in calm or quiet surroundings
- constantly fidgeting
- being unable to concentrate on tasks
- excessive physical movement
- excessive talking
- being unable to wait their turn
- acting without thinking
- interrupting conversations
- little or no sense of danger