Assessing medication effects in the MTA study using neuropsychological outcomes

Background:  While studies have increasingly investigated deficits in reaction time (RT) and RT variability in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), few studies have examined the effects of stimulant medication on these important neuropsychological outcome measures. Methods:...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of child psychology and psychiatry 2006-05, Vol.47 (5), p.446-456
Main Authors: Epstein, Jeffery N., Keith Conners, C., Hervey, Aaron S., Tonev, Simon T., Eugene Arnold, L., Abikoff, Howard B., Elliott, Glen, Greenhill, Laurence L., Hechtman, Lily, Hoagwood, Kimberly, Hinshaw, Stephen P., Hoza, Betsy, Jensen, Peter S., March, John S., Newcorn, Jeffrey H., Pelham, William E., Severe, Joanne B., Swanson, James M., Wells, Karen, Vitiello, Benedetto, Wigal, Timothy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ADHD/ADD
Amphetamine - pharmacology
Analysis of Variance
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - drug therapy
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - psychology
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - therapy
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Biological and medical sciences
Central Nervous System Stimulants - pharmacology
Child
Child Behavior - drug effects
Child Behavior - psychology
Child psychology
Children
Clinical outcomes
Combined Modality Therapy - methods
Combined Modality Therapy - psychology
Combined Modality Therapy - statistics & numerical data
Continuous Performance Test
Data Interpretation, Statistical
Dextroamphetamine - pharmacology
distributions
Drug Therapy
Effectiveness
Evaluation Methods
Female
Follow-Up Studies
go/no-go test
Humans
Hyperactivity
Medical sciences
Methylphenidate - pharmacology
Neurological Impairments
Neurological Organization
Neuropharmacology
Neuropsychological functioning
Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data
Neuropsychology
Normal Distribution
Outcomes of Treatment
Pemoline - pharmacology
Performance Tests
pharmacology
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Prescription drugs
Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease)
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopharmacology
Reaction Time
Reaction Time - drug effects
Reaction times
Response time
Stimulants
Task Performance and Analysis
Time Factors
Treatment Outcome
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background:  While studies have increasingly investigated deficits in reaction time (RT) and RT variability in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), few studies have examined the effects of stimulant medication on these important neuropsychological outcome measures. Methods:  316 children who participated in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA) completed the Conners’ Continuous Performance Test (CPT) at the 24‐month assessment point. Outcome measures included standard CPT outcomes (e.g., errors of commission, mean hit reaction time (RT)) and RT indicators derived from an Ex‐Gaussian distributional model (i.e., mu, sigma, and tau). Results:  Analyses revealed significant effects of medication across all neuropsychological outcome measures. Results on the Ex‐Gaussian outcome measures revealed that stimulant medication slows RT and reduces RT variability. Conclusions:  This demonstrates the importance of including analytic strategies that can accurately model the actual distributional pattern, including the positive skew. Further, the results of the study relate to several theoretical models of ADHD.
ISSN:0021-9630
1469-7610
DOI:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01469.x