Could Clinical Use of Stimulant Medications Increase Risk for Parkinson's Disease or Other Neurological Sequelae? A Review of the Evidence

Abstract

Millions of children in the United States are treated with stimulant medications for attention/deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Treatment may begin before school-age and continue for years. All stimulants that are used to treat ADHD have well-established neurotoxic effects in animals, particularly on dopamine neurons. Idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder involving (primarily) death of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons. Given these observations, it is reasonable to ask whether children treated for ADHD with stimulants may have an increased risk for later development of PD or other neurological sequelae. This paper reviews the experimental, clinical, and epidemiological evidence that pertains to this question. It is concluded that the weight of the evidence suggests that a linkage between stimulant use and increased risk for PD is plausible.