Seema Kumar

Sleep difficulties, often present in children with ADHD, may also lead to excess weight gain due to a combination of behavioral and hormonal factors, our finding of sex-specific differences in the association between ADHD and obesity may be related to some extent to unique differences in the subtypes of ADHD seen in females compared to males.

It is important to know that in our study, stimulants had been used for only a fraction of a patient’s life, ranging between one and a half years to six years, it is not known if longer duration of stimulant treatment may alter the risk of obesity.

Parents and doctors should encourage healthy eating and active lifestyle in all patients with ADHD, additionally, weight monitoring should be incorporated as part of routine care of all patients with ADHD so that excess weight can be detected early and that efforts to prevent further weight gain can be instituted in a timely fashion.