Although there has been a great deal of controversy about the manners of diagosing ADHD and the drug treatments for this condition, nevertheless it remains a widespread problem. The National Institute of Mental Health writes Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common childhood disorders and can continue through adolescence and adulthood. Difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling behavior, and hyperactivity are among the primary symptoms of ADHD. Parents in the Syracuse region have been concerned about the increasing incidence of the diagnosing of ADHD and the possible side effects from drugs used to treat this disorder.
Science Daily has reported "Young Children Exposed to Anesthesia Multiple Times Show Elevated Rates of ADHD." According to Mayo Clinic researchers multiple exposures to anesthesia at a young age are associated with higher rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). David Warner, M.D., a Mayo Clinic pediatric anesthesiologist and investigator on this observational study has said children exposed to two or more anesthetics before age 3 had more than double the incidence of ADHD than children who had no exposure.
The findings from this study have been published in the February 2 edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Dr. Warner and his colleagues took note when basic science studies in the medical literature began to suggest anesthesia used in surgery causes changes in the brains of young animals. Science Daily has quoted Dr Warner as saying "Those studies piqued our interest. We were skeptical that the findings in animals would correlate with kids, but it appears that it does."
In this study children who had no exposure to anesthesia and surgery had ADHD at a rate of 7.3 percent. The rate after a single exposure to anesthesia and surgery was found to be approximately the same. But, children who had two or more exposures to anesthesia and surgery, had a 17.9 percent rate of ADHD. However, Warner has noted that the results of the study do not definitively mean that anesthesia causes ADHD.
Warner has commented "This is an observational study. A wide range of other factors might be responsible for the higher frequency of ADHD in children with multiple exposures. The findings certainly do suggest that further investigation into this area is warranted, and investigators at Mayo Clinic and elsewhere are actively pursuing these studies." Insofar as concerns about side effects from the use of ritalin and other drugs to treat ADHD alternative natural remedies to treat mental health issues in children are available from Dr Harold Mandel Online.
