(ORDO NEWS) — Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is affecting more and more children around the world.
Despite efforts, it has not yet been possible to develop effective and at the same time universal methods of treatment. Recently, however, researchers have found that some ADHD symptoms can be corrected with caffeine.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a chronic mental and behavioral disorder. Its symptoms include impaired concentration, excessive activity and impulsivity.
Children and adolescents are susceptible to the disease, while adults are rarely diagnosed with this disease. It is assumed that as they grow older, the symptoms of ADHD either go away on their own, or the person simply adapts to living with them.
Over the past 20 years, the number of children diagnosed with “ADHD” has increased dramatically, at the same time, the same cannot be said about effective methods of treatment.
Scientists and doctors do not understand too well the causes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Difficulties are also caused by the variety of manifestations in individual patients. All this inspires the active search for new drugs.
A team of researchers from the Open University of Catalonia (Spain) was interested in how promising the use of caffeine preparations for ADHD.
To do this, scientists have created a so-called systematic review, that is, they analyzed the results of already published studies. It turned out that caffeine preparations really help improve attention and the ability to focus.
“The arsenal of drugs that are used for ADHD is limited, and there is a lot of controversy around the use of certain treatments and stimulants, especially in the case of children and adolescents,” explained Javier Vazquez, one of the authors of the new article . “That is why we need to evaluate the effectiveness of other compounds, such as caffeine.”
The authors claim that their systematic review is the first in this field. Among the considered works there are those devoted to the problem at the cellular level.
Others have created models of ADHD in various animals. It was possible to find out that caffeine preparations increase the ability to hold attention and concentrate, stimulate learning in general, and even improve some types of memory. At the same time, caffeine does not affect blood pressure and does not lead to a change in body weight.
The researchers concluded that caffeine could be an effective treatment for related symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. At the same time, they do not undertake to unequivocally state that the compound can positively influence other manifestations of the disease.
“We’ve had good results, but we still need to be very careful when using caffeine-based therapy for this disorder,” Vasquez said. “If the patient has a problem solely with attention, caffeine works very well, but if he has other symptoms, such as hyperactivity and impulsivity, great care must be taken.”
The researchers note that their findings are quite transferable to people diagnosed with ADHD and that they are particularly relevant in the case of children and adolescents.
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