Table 1

Summary of the methodology and results of 21 stimulant growth studies in children

Design: longitudinal from onset of treatment with stimulant
Control: untreated children with ADHD or normal children
	Treatment (mg/day)	n	Δ Height centile	Δ Height z-score	Δ Calculated adult height	Height deficit (cm)
Safer and Allen, 1973¹	Mph >20	10	p<0.05 (3 years)			1.0 cm/year*
	Mph ⩽20	10	NS
	Dex 12.5	29	p<0.005 (2.9 years)			1.5 cm/year*
Kalachnik et al, 1982³	Mph 18.4	23 boys			NS
Spencer et al, 1992⁴	Mph 31.4	29	NS	p = 0.023 (1.2 years)		1.5 at 1.2 years p = 0.035
Lisska and Rivkees, 2003⁵	Mph 21.6	84		Boys p = 0.01 (3 and 4 years) Girls p = 0.05 (3 years)		Boys 3–4 at 3 years Girls 3–4 at 3 years
MTA Cooperative Group 2001,⁶ 2004⁷	Mph 34.4	222				1.05 at 14 months p<0.001 1.92 at 24 months p<0.001

Design: longitudinal from onset of treatment with stimulant
Control: normative data
	Treatment (mg/day)	n	Δ Height centile	Δ Height z-score	Height deficit (cm)
Gross 1976⁸	Mph 34, Dex 16.5	84	NS
Millichap, 1978⁹	Mph 10–20	36 boys	NS
Satterfield et al, 1979¹⁰	Mph 24.2	72 boys			1.03 at 1 year p<0.001 0.1 at 2 years NS
Kaffman et al, 1979¹¹	Mph 20, Dex 20	50	NS
Greenhill et al, 1981¹²	Dex 21	13 boys	p<0.025 (1 year)		1.8 at 1 year p<0.005
Mattes and Gittelman, 1983¹³	Mph 41.3	56	p<0.001 (2, 3, 4 years)		3.3 at 4 years
Gadow et al, 1999¹⁴	Mph 30	34			0.67 at 2 years NS
Poulton and Cowell, 2003¹⁵	Mph 27, Dex 13.7	51		p<0.001 (½, 1½ years)	0.64 at ½year p<0.001 2.33 at 2½years p<0.01

Design: longitudinal from onset of treatment with stimulant
Control: partially treated children
	Treatment (mg/day)	n	Δ Height centile
Quinn and Rapoport 1975¹⁶	Mph 20.6	23 boys	NS

Design: longitudinal from onset of treatment with stimulant
Control: none
	Treatment (mg/day)	n	Height velocity
Sund and Zeiner 2002¹⁷	Mph 23.9 Dex 11.9	91 boys	NS

Design: longitudinal study of children changing formulation
Control: none
	Duration of treatment prior to study	Treatment (mg/day)	n	Change in average height of cohort
Wilens et al, 2003¹⁸	Not stated (most were treated)	Mph 18–54	407 at start 229 at 1 year	NS

Design: cross sectional
Control: untreated children with ADHD or normal children
	Duration of treatment prior to study	Treatment (mg/day)	n	Height z-score	Height velocity
McNutt et al, 1976,¹⁹ 1977²⁰	9–47 months mean 30.3	Mph 19.8	20		NS
Spencer et al, 1996,²¹ 1998²²	Average 4 years follow up	Any treatment ever	110 boys	p = 0.03
		Mph 38†	53 boys	NS
Biederman et al, 2003²³	Not stated	Any treatment ever	87 girls	NS
		Mph 28†	73 girls	NS

Design: cross sectional
Control: normative data
	Duration of treatment prior to study	Treatment (mg/day)	n	Height centile		Height velocity
n, number of subjects; Mph, methylphenidate daily dose; Dex, dexamphetamine/amphetamine daily dose; NS, method used but did not show statistically significant evidence of attenuated growth.
*The height deficits in Safer and Allen’s studies represent averaged annual deficits from children in their first, second, or third year of treatment.
†Average dose of methylphenidate or equivalent in subgroup of children who received a stimulant in past 2 years.
Millichap and Millichap, 1975²⁴	1–5 years mean 2½ years	Mph 10–40	50	NS
Vincent et al, 1990²⁵	½–7 years	Mph 34	31			NS