Cardiac Arrest following a Myocardial Infarction in a Child Treated with Methylphenidate

The use of psychostimulants labeled to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder increases. Among side effects these drugs raise blood pressure and heart rate, and the safety has been scrutinised in recent years. Data from large epidemiological studies, including over a million person-years, di...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kim Munk, Lise Gormsen, Won Yong Kim, Niels Holmark Andersen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2015-01-01
Series:Case Reports in Pediatrics
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/905097
Description
Summary:The use of psychostimulants labeled to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder increases. Among side effects these drugs raise blood pressure and heart rate, and the safety has been scrutinised in recent years. Data from large epidemiological studies, including over a million person-years, did not report any cases of myocardial infarction in current users of methylphenidate, and the risk of serious adverse cardiac events was not found to be increased. We present a case with an 11-year-old child, treated with methylphenidate, who suffered cardiac arrest and was diagnosed with a remote myocardial infarction. This demonstrates that myocardial infarction can happen due to methylphenidate exposure in a cardiac healthy child, without cardiovascular risk factors.
ISSN:2090-6803
2090-6811