Posted on 05/17/2010 10:39:50 AM PDT by bs9021
ADHD Revised?
Bethany Stotts, May 17, 2010
A new study conducted by Harvard researchers correlates certain pesticides with an increased risk attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.
Using a 95% confidence level, they determined that “For the most-commonly detected DMAP metabolite, dimethyl thiophosphate, children with levels higher than the median of detectable concentrations had twice the odds of ADHD (adjusted odds ratio: 1.93 [95% confidence interval: 1.23–3.02]), compared with children with undetectable levels.” They studied over a thousand children.
“These findings support the hypothesis that organophosphate exposure, at levels common among US children, may contribute to ADHD prevalence,” state the authors in their article, published online by the American Academy of Pediatrics today.
“Prospective studies are needed to establish whether this association is causal,” they write.
The authors are associated with Harvard University and the University of Montreal in Canada.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
They tested potential variables which could skew the analysis which were:
* gender
* age (in months)
* race/ethnicity
* “the ratio of self-reported family in- come to the family’s appropriate poverty threshold value on the basis of Census data, recoded into 4 categories…” (PIR)
* Body Mass Index
* blood lead concentrations...
(Excerpt) Read more at academia.org ...
Agreed!
I wonder if this applies to all versions of ADD, or just ADHD, i.e. is it the hyperactivity part, or the attention deficit part.
And to those deriding ADD/ADHD, yes there probably is a pretty large population of misdiagnosed people, but it does those of us who actually have it a disservice to criticize the issue wholesale. From an outsider perspective, it would seem like just a behavior issue, until you have to deal with it every day; I didn’t have the hyperactivity part, but despite wanting to pay attention, and implementing all kinds of strategies to overcome the problem, and hours and hours of discipline and oversight from my parents, it wasn’t until I actually went to see a specialist, and did extensive testing, and was diagnosed and prescribed medication, did everything “click”. My highschool GPA jumped two whole points in less than a year, and suddenly all my “problem” subjects were easy to follow, understand, and work through.
Yes, but even “good” kids can have ADD. I was never diagnosed because I was a “good” kid. I finally did an on-line test for kicks, and found I scored quite high. Took some ADD medication and it was like, “Wow! My brain does what it tells me to!” I feel like a ne
Sorry. Where was I?
Oh, yeah.., my brain does what I tell it too. When I’m on medication, anyway. Otherwise, life is a lot like reading skimming the FR forums. I get part of a paragraph in and next thing you know I
I feel like a ne
Did your ADD just kick in again? He he...
Yeah, that was my little joke.
My FReeper handle was almost, “Ooh, shiny things” but the comma is necessary in that handle.
In all seriousness, though: I know self-selection tends to allow people to exaggerate the size of whatever group of people they may belong to, but I do think a LOT of people in my age group are ADD and weren’t diagnosed in the 80s when they were in school. The ADD = “bad kids” equation sucks for both sides.
My advice to parents whose kids are diagnosed with ADD: find out from your kids if they feel like, “Hey! My brain works!” If so, and you feel like your kids are MORE present to you, go with the medications.
There *is* a huge problem with excusing all bad behavior by saying it’s ADD or some pathology. Even kids with slightly unusual brains can behave well. On the other hand, ADD medications given to a kid whose brain is working properly does NOT make for a better behaved kid; it makes for an even more unruly kid. In fact, Ritalin is simply time-released “speed,” or what the military calls “go pills.”
(I won’t use Ritalin, by the way, but that’s because it’s not the right medication for my class of ADD.)
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