Black-box warnings about the dangers of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications are confusing and could have serious consequences for the risk of youth suicide, according to researchers at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal (CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal) and the University of Montreal, whose correspondence has just been published in the most recent issue of the journal The Lancet Psychiatry.
Image source: Anders Sandberg
“Health Canada has issued a series of black-box warnings about the suicidal potential of ADHD medications. However, these warnings have failed to take into account epidemiological studies showing the opposite, that increased use of this medication has been associated with reduced suicide risk in adolescents,” says Dr. Alain Lesage, psychiatrist and researcher at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal (CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal) and one of study’s authors.
In the past decade, the medical treatment of ADHD increased three-fold in Quebec, reaching 9% of boys aged 10 years and 4% of boys aged 15 years. However, suicide rates in Quebec’s adolescents decreased by nearly 50% during that period among 15-19 year olds, which contradicts the warnings issued by Health Canada.
“Clearly, the increased use of ADHD drugs indicates that they might actually reduce rather than augment the risk of suicide,” says Edouard Kouassi, pharmacist and researcher at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal (CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal) and co-author of the study.
View the full commentary article here
View the original research abstract: Lesage, A. et al. Canadian ADHD black-box warnings. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2015; 2 (12): 1057
