ADHD Medication Called Safe for Heart - Cardiologist unimpressed with industry funded study

[Guest guest]

http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/05/20/adhd-medication-called-safe-for-heart/

ADHD Medication Called Safe for Heart

Submitted by Lois Rain on May 20, 2011 – 10:17 pm

A study funded by Shire, an ADHD drug maker, is asserting that

ADHD medication among children and teens does not indicate a high

mortality rate concerning cardiovascular complications. But not

all doctors are buying it.

This study which was taken from research at the University of

Pennsylvania School of Medicine along with HealthCore Inc, advised

that the benefits of being on the drug outweighed the potential

hazards. The data was taken from 5 different states (California,

Florida, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio) Medicaid records as well

as HealthCore Integrated Research Database, which contains 44

million members in Blue Cross and Blue Shield networks.

The medical information compiled documented 241,000 patients aged

3-17 who were on ADHD medication. Rates were compared for those

patients to detect those who had sudden death, heart attack or

stroke with a control group (more than 965,000) over a 609 day

period.

Of those that were on the medication, 28 had died from the

medicated group while 607 had died in the non-medicated (nearly

four times larger) group. Hennesy, senior author and

associate professor of epidemiology at Penn. states, “For kids who

will benefit from ADHD treatment, the potential risk of a

cardiovascular event should not dissuade parents or caregivers

from giving a child or adolescent these drugs.”

This study, funded by a drug company (Shire) whose interest in

profits should definitely be taken into account, has openly

provided this data notwithstanding the FDA’s safety analysis, yet

to be made public. HealthCore Inc (co-researcher) is a firm that

works with health plans, government, and pharmaceutical companies

and started out as a subset of Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Although this research points in the direction that ADHD

medication can be favorably viewed as safe, it does not take into

consideration what extent the drugs impact the body just because

they didn’t necessarily result in death.

Some doctors, like Dr. Nissen, found the study

unimpressive. He is chairman of the cardiovascular medicine

department at the Cleveland Clinic. ”Every time we have studied

drugs that raise blood pressure and heart rate, we have found that

they produce long-term cardiovascular harm. We have no reason to

believe that these drugs will not do that.”

Furthermore, this study was done over a 609 day period, which is

just under 2 years span of time. The long term effects of ADHD

medication have still not been provided for. There are

approximately 2.7 million of all children in the United States,

ages 4-17, that took ADHD medications in 2007.

By Macek

~Health Freedoms

Sources:

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/16/study-adhd-meds-dont-boost-severe-heart-risks/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20063572-10391704.html

[Guest guest]

http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/05/20/adhd-medication-called-safe-for-heart/

ADHD Medication Called Safe for Heart

Submitted by Lois Rain on May 20, 2011 – 10:17 pm

A study funded by Shire, an ADHD drug maker, is asserting that

ADHD medication among children and teens does not indicate a high

mortality rate concerning cardiovascular complications. But not

all doctors are buying it.

This study which was taken from research at the University of

Pennsylvania School of Medicine along with HealthCore Inc, advised

that the benefits of being on the drug outweighed the potential

hazards. The data was taken from 5 different states (California,

Florida, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio) Medicaid records as well

as HealthCore Integrated Research Database, which contains 44

million members in Blue Cross and Blue Shield networks.

The medical information compiled documented 241,000 patients aged

3-17 who were on ADHD medication. Rates were compared for those

patients to detect those who had sudden death, heart attack or

stroke with a control group (more than 965,000) over a 609 day

period.

Of those that were on the medication, 28 had died from the

medicated group while 607 had died in the non-medicated (nearly

four times larger) group. Hennesy, senior author and

associate professor of epidemiology at Penn. states, “For kids who

will benefit from ADHD treatment, the potential risk of a

cardiovascular event should not dissuade parents or caregivers

from giving a child or adolescent these drugs.”

This study, funded by a drug company (Shire) whose interest in

profits should definitely be taken into account, has openly

provided this data notwithstanding the FDA’s safety analysis, yet

to be made public. HealthCore Inc (co-researcher) is a firm that

works with health plans, government, and pharmaceutical companies

and started out as a subset of Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Although this research points in the direction that ADHD

medication can be favorably viewed as safe, it does not take into

consideration what extent the drugs impact the body just because

they didn’t necessarily result in death.

Some doctors, like Dr. Nissen, found the study

unimpressive. He is chairman of the cardiovascular medicine

department at the Cleveland Clinic. ”Every time we have studied

drugs that raise blood pressure and heart rate, we have found that

they produce long-term cardiovascular harm. We have no reason to

believe that these drugs will not do that.”

Furthermore, this study was done over a 609 day period, which is

just under 2 years span of time. The long term effects of ADHD

medication have still not been provided for. There are

approximately 2.7 million of all children in the United States,

ages 4-17, that took ADHD medications in 2007.

By Macek

~Health Freedoms

Sources:

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/16/study-adhd-meds-dont-boost-severe-heart-risks/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20063572-10391704.html

[Guest guest]

http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/05/20/adhd-medication-called-safe-for-heart/

ADHD Medication Called Safe for Heart

Submitted by Lois Rain on May 20, 2011 – 10:17 pm

A study funded by Shire, an ADHD drug maker, is asserting that

ADHD medication among children and teens does not indicate a high

mortality rate concerning cardiovascular complications. But not

all doctors are buying it.

This study which was taken from research at the University of

Pennsylvania School of Medicine along with HealthCore Inc, advised

that the benefits of being on the drug outweighed the potential

hazards. The data was taken from 5 different states (California,

Florida, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio) Medicaid records as well

as HealthCore Integrated Research Database, which contains 44

million members in Blue Cross and Blue Shield networks.

The medical information compiled documented 241,000 patients aged

3-17 who were on ADHD medication. Rates were compared for those

patients to detect those who had sudden death, heart attack or

stroke with a control group (more than 965,000) over a 609 day

period.

Of those that were on the medication, 28 had died from the

medicated group while 607 had died in the non-medicated (nearly

four times larger) group. Hennesy, senior author and

associate professor of epidemiology at Penn. states, “For kids who

will benefit from ADHD treatment, the potential risk of a

cardiovascular event should not dissuade parents or caregivers

from giving a child or adolescent these drugs.”

This study, funded by a drug company (Shire) whose interest in

profits should definitely be taken into account, has openly

provided this data notwithstanding the FDA’s safety analysis, yet

to be made public. HealthCore Inc (co-researcher) is a firm that

works with health plans, government, and pharmaceutical companies

and started out as a subset of Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Although this research points in the direction that ADHD

medication can be favorably viewed as safe, it does not take into

consideration what extent the drugs impact the body just because

they didn’t necessarily result in death.

Some doctors, like Dr. Nissen, found the study

unimpressive. He is chairman of the cardiovascular medicine

department at the Cleveland Clinic. ”Every time we have studied

drugs that raise blood pressure and heart rate, we have found that

they produce long-term cardiovascular harm. We have no reason to

believe that these drugs will not do that.”

Furthermore, this study was done over a 609 day period, which is

just under 2 years span of time. The long term effects of ADHD

medication have still not been provided for. There are

approximately 2.7 million of all children in the United States,

ages 4-17, that took ADHD medications in 2007.

By Macek

~Health Freedoms

Sources:

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/16/study-adhd-meds-dont-boost-severe-heart-risks/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20063572-10391704.html

[Guest guest]

http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/05/20/adhd-medication-called-safe-for-heart/

ADHD Medication Called Safe for Heart

Submitted by Lois Rain on May 20, 2011 – 10:17 pm

A study funded by Shire, an ADHD drug maker, is asserting that

ADHD medication among children and teens does not indicate a high

mortality rate concerning cardiovascular complications. But not

all doctors are buying it.

This study which was taken from research at the University of

Pennsylvania School of Medicine along with HealthCore Inc, advised

that the benefits of being on the drug outweighed the potential

hazards. The data was taken from 5 different states (California,

Florida, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio) Medicaid records as well

as HealthCore Integrated Research Database, which contains 44

million members in Blue Cross and Blue Shield networks.

The medical information compiled documented 241,000 patients aged

3-17 who were on ADHD medication. Rates were compared for those

patients to detect those who had sudden death, heart attack or

stroke with a control group (more than 965,000) over a 609 day

period.

Of those that were on the medication, 28 had died from the

medicated group while 607 had died in the non-medicated (nearly

four times larger) group. Hennesy, senior author and

associate professor of epidemiology at Penn. states, “For kids who

will benefit from ADHD treatment, the potential risk of a

cardiovascular event should not dissuade parents or caregivers

from giving a child or adolescent these drugs.”

This study, funded by a drug company (Shire) whose interest in

profits should definitely be taken into account, has openly

provided this data notwithstanding the FDA’s safety analysis, yet

to be made public. HealthCore Inc (co-researcher) is a firm that

works with health plans, government, and pharmaceutical companies

and started out as a subset of Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Although this research points in the direction that ADHD

medication can be favorably viewed as safe, it does not take into

consideration what extent the drugs impact the body just because

they didn’t necessarily result in death.

Some doctors, like Dr. Nissen, found the study

unimpressive. He is chairman of the cardiovascular medicine

department at the Cleveland Clinic. ”Every time we have studied

drugs that raise blood pressure and heart rate, we have found that

they produce long-term cardiovascular harm. We have no reason to

believe that these drugs will not do that.”

Furthermore, this study was done over a 609 day period, which is

just under 2 years span of time. The long term effects of ADHD

medication have still not been provided for. There are

approximately 2.7 million of all children in the United States,

ages 4-17, that took ADHD medications in 2007.

By Macek

~Health Freedoms

Sources:

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/16/study-adhd-meds-dont-boost-severe-heart-risks/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20063572-10391704.html