title: Complementary and alternative therapies for children and adolescents with ADHD.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide a comprehensive review of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments for children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Many parents of children with ADHD are reluctant to pursue medication options and unable to access behavioral counseling. CAM therapies are often appealing to families and studies show that a large percentage of children with ADHD are treated with one or more CAM therapy. Most research studies evaluating CAM therapies are methodologically flawed, and often times there are inconsistencies across either study design or results. Although the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend any CAM therapies for ADHD, essential fatty acid supplementation is likely well tolerated and modestly effective.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most complementary and alternative treatments do not have adequate research to recommend their use in children with ADHD. Physicians should be aware of the many CAM treatment options and the research surrounding them in order to provide their patients with the most current and accurate information available.
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bader
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adesman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000379:methods*; D004032:Diet / Q000379:methods; D015444:Exercise; D006801:Humans; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000379:methods; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000379:methods