title: Herbal medicines in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): A systematic review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this review is to identify evidence in herbal therapy in the treatment of ADHD concerning effectiveness and drug tolerability.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this Medline/PubMed, Scopus and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Central) were searched from their inception to 15 July 2016. Only randomized controlled trails (RCT) with children (0-18years) suffering from ADHD were included in this review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nine RCTs with 464 patients comparing herbal pharmaceuticals to placebo or active control were included. Seven different herbs were tested in the treatment of ADHD symptoms. Low evidence could be found for Melissa officinalis, Valeriana officinalis and Passiflora incarnata. Limited evidence could be found for pine bark extract and Gingko biloba. The other herbal preparations showed no efficacy in the treatment of ADHD symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While there is still a lack of sufficient numbers of RCTs no concrete recommendations for use can be made so far.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany. Electronic address: d.anheyer@kliniken-essen-mitte.de.
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Anheyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Romy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lauche
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Dania
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schumann
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Gustav
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dobos
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cramer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D029001:Herbal Medicine / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000379:methods; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal
keywords: ADHD; Children; Herbal medicine; Systematic review