URI, Lehigh launch ADHD study

In children and teens, ADHD is a well-studied problem, and flawed or not, there are well-known medications for them that have been used for years.
But college can be even more challenging for students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which studies have estimated affects 2 to 4 percent of the college population. And no study has ever evaluated ADHD medications’ effectiveness with them.
Now researchers at the University of Rhode Island and Lehigh University, in Bethlehem, Pa., are launching such a study – with the stimulant Vyvanse.
Shire Development Inc., the maker of the drug, has awarded a grant to Lisa Weyandt, an associate professor of psychology at URI and an expert on ADHD in college students, to conduct the study, starting this fall.
It’s a small project, with 25 students at URI and Lehigh to be recruited. Each will be evaluated at the beginning, with a placebo, and with three different levels of medication. It’s a double-blind study, so neither the student nor the data collector know the level of the drug, if any, the student is taking. Participants will be paid $300 for completing the five-week study.
Weyandt said the study will measure changes in attention and executive functions and social/psychological functioning, as well as students’ own perceptions. In addition, their professors’ feedback will be sought.
Weyandt is running the study with George DuPaul, a school psychology professor and fellow ADHD expert who chairs the Department of Education and Human Services at Lehigh. The grant will fund the salaries of two graduate students at each institution to work on the study.
“College students with ADHD are at a greater risk for academic and psychological difficulties. They are also in a unique developmental context at this stage of their lives, when they are expected to live and act independently,” said DuPaul. “Many colleges and universities offer resources to help students with ADHD from a functional standpoint. However, we are the first to look at the impact of medication to treat the symptoms of ADHD.”
Study results are slated to be announced in the fall of 2010. Contact information for both professors is available here.