Preliminary Investigation on Duloxetine Efficacy in the Treatment of Children With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Background: stimulants are first-line agents for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (adhd). despite the impressive track record of stimulants in the treatment of adhd, they fail in 25% of patients due to lack of efficacy or the emergence of unwanted side effects.objectives: in this study, we investigated the efficacy and safety of duloxetine, a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, in the treatment of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd).patients and methods: in an open label clinical trial, 13 children aged 6 – 11 years diagnosed with adhd were prescribed 30 mg/day duloxetine once daily by oral administration for six weeks. conners parent rating scale-revised-short form (cprs-r-s) and the adhd rating scale were used to assess the efficacy of the treatment.results: ten children with a mean age of 8.40 ± 1.67 years terminated the trial. a significant reduction in cprs-r and its subscales was evident from week four of the study. in terms of side effects, duloxetine was generally safe and well tolerated.conclusions: this preliminary assessment suggests that duloxetine may be a medication of interest in the treatment of children with adhd. further controlled studies with larger samples are required to evaluate the efficacy of duloxetine in treatment of children with adhd.