Academic outcomes in Asian children aged 8-11 years with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder treated with atomoxetine hydrochloride

摘要

Objective. To investigate the relationship between changes in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) core symptoms and changes in academic outcome of Asian children treated with atomoxetine. Methods. This open-label study enrolled patients aged 8-11 years with DSM-IV-TR-denned ADHD, who were naive to ADHD medications and met the symptomatic severity threshold of 1.5 standard deviations above the age and gender norm for the ADHDRS-IV-Parent:Inv (ADH-DRS) total score. Data collection occurred for 24 weeks and included academic outcome, measured by the school grade average (SGA). Results. Of 228 patients enrolled from China (n = 82), Taiwan (n = 76), and Korea (n = 70), 77.2% completed the study. Statistically significant (P <0.001) baseline to last observation improvements in ADHDRS and SGA scores were observed. However, no linear correlation between change in ADHDRS total score and SGA (-0.083, P = 0.293) was observed. Conclusions. Despite significant independent improvements in core ADHD symptoms and academic grades over 24 weeks, the mean improvements observed in these measures did not appear to be correlated.