Randomized-controlled study of treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder of preschool children with combined electro-acupuncture and behavior therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effectiveness of electro-acupuncture with behavior therapy on preschool children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

METHODS: 180 preschool children with ADHD diagnosed by DSM-IV were classified into three subtypes: predominantly inattentive subtype (PI subtype, 60 cases), predominantly hyperactive-impulsive subtype (HI subtype, 60 cases) and combined subtype (CT subtype, 60 cases). In each subtype, the patients were recruited randomly into experimental group, which received electro-acupuncture and behavior therapy; and control group, which received sham electro-acupuncture and behavior therapy. The treatment efficacy was evaluated by measuring the change in core symptoms of ADHD according to the standard enacted by the national traditional Chinese medicine committee after 12 courses of treatment (lasted 12 weeks) and relapse rate was evaluated after a half-year follow up.

RESULTS: (1) In PI subtype, 11 cases showed effectiveness with treatment and 12 cases showed improvement with treatment among experimental group, while five cases showed effectiveness and 12 cases showed improvement among control group; in HI subtype, 10 cases showed effectiveness and 17 cases showed improvement among experimental group, while four cases showed effectiveness and 14 cases showed improvement among control group; in CI subtype, 12 cases showed effectiveness and 12 cases showed improvement among experimental group, while five cases showed effectiveness and 12 cases showed improvement among control group; The overall comparison manifested that the efficacy of experimental group was better than that of control group (p<0.05). (2) The core symptoms of experimental group were significantly decreased than that of control group at half-year follow up (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION: The treatment of ADHD in preschool children with electro-acupuncture combining behavior therapy has positive effect in reducing symptoms of ADHD. Adverse events are mild to patients. It is recommendable for this combined therapy, while multi-center RCT needs to be further studied.