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The risk of self-harm among people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is highest before people start ADHD medication, rather than after treatment begins, according to new research led by Aston University and recently published in the journal BMJ Mental Health.

The researchers, led by Dr. Adrienne Chan, a pharmacy lecturer, and regius professor Ian Wong at Aston Pharmacy School, were seeking to address fears that taking ADHD medication raises the risk of self-harm, following conflicting evidence from previous studies of ADHD medication. Millions of adults and children worldwide have ADHD and these concerns can influence whether people start or continue with treatment, despite more recent studies being more reassuring.

The multinational collaboration saw the Aston University researchers partnering with groups from UCL in the U.K., the University of Hong Kong, the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea and National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. There were also collaborators from Seoul National University in South Korea, the University of Melbourne in Australia, Rutgers University in the U.S., the University of Waterloo in Canada, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Macau University of Science and Technology.

, who had begun a course of ADHD medication and had a record of self-harm between 2001 and 2020. They compared three periods of ADHD medication exposure—the 90 days before treatment began, the first 90 days of treatment use and the subsequent treatment period—with periods of non-exposure.

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