a comparative study of risperidone and aripiprazole in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children under six years old: a randomized double-blind study

Background: stimulants are not very effective on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd) children under 6 years old. the most common medication that is used in this range of age is risperidone. evaluating the safety and efficacy of aripiprazole versus risperidone for treating children under 6 years suffering from adhd was the aim of this study. methods: during this double-blind clinical trial, 34 children aged 3 - 6 years who were diagnosed with adhd, received treatments with aripiprazole or risperidone randomly for 12 weeks. follow-up measures comprised, cgas, the adhd-rs, cprs and side effect checklist. results: the findings revealed that 20 patients in risperidone group (including 13 boys and 7 girls) and 20 patients in aripiprazole group (including 13 boys and 7 girls) had at least one follow-up examination. after 12 weeks of the study, both medications showed distinct improvements in adhd rs (p < 0.001), cprs (p < 0.001) and cgas (p < 0.001) scores. the statistic difference between them was not significantly different. the most common side effects in risperidone group were reported to be panic (20%), nausea and vomiting (20%), while in aripiprazole they were reported to be increased appetite (25%) and somnolence (15%). conclusions: the findings revealed that both risperidone and aripiprazole are effective in treating adhd children under 6 years old and there was no significant difference between the two drugs. children can tolerate them well. aripiprazole effect on children showed itself earlier compared to risperidone.