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The Visuo-Motor Attention Test in Boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Methylphenidate—Placebo Randomized Controlled Trial

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Abstract

To assess the visuomotor attention ability in children with ADHD and controls and their response to placebo and Methylphenidate (MPH) treatment. 36 boys with ADHD and 36 age matched typical controls were administered the visuomotor attention test (VMAT) as a baseline and following a week of MPH(IR) or placebo administered to the study group, in a randomized crossover design. A significant difference between the study and control groups was found on several VMAT measures. No performance difference between ADHD dimensional sub-types was observed at the baseline assessment. Under MPH treatment a significant improvement in VMAT measures was observed and particularly in the combined and predominantly hyperactive (C\HI) type. The VMAT results obtained in the present study are consistent with previous findings. ADHD subtypes appear similarly short of visuomotor attention resources; a visuomotor test can be used in the assessment of gains derived from MPH treatment

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This research received no funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Special Education, Faculty of Education, Haifa University, Haifa, Israel

    Yaffa Hadar & Oren Lamm

  2. The Rappaport Family Faculty of Medicine, Israel Institute of Technology, The Technion, Haifa, Israel

    Shraga Hocherman & Emanuel Tirosh

  3. The Hannah Khoushy Child Development Center, Bnei Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel

    Emanuel Tirosh

Authors
  1. Yaffa Hadar
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  2. Shraga Hocherman
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  4. Emanuel Tirosh
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Correspondence to Yaffa Hadar.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The study was not supported by any grant or pharmaceutical company involvement.

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All procedures performed in study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Bnei-Zion medical Helsinki committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Board of Education, the Israeli Ministry of Education research committee.

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Hadar, Y., Hocherman, S., Lamm, O. et al. The Visuo-Motor Attention Test in Boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Methylphenidate—Placebo Randomized Controlled Trial. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 52, 96–103 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-020-00993-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-020-00993-8

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