Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Aripiprazole compare to Risperidone for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder in children under 6 years old.
Design:randomized, triple blind study, plus placebo
Settings and conduct: A child psychiatrist examines 40 children who are referred to child psychiatry clinic of Imam Hosein Hospital. They must fulfill criteria based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Participants: They are 40 children from both gender and three to six years old age. The Inclusion Criteria are children from age three to age six with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.They exclude from study if they have any other co morbidity that interferes with diagnosis and treatment like bipolar disorder; psychotic disorder; mental retardation; development delay disorders; Autistic disorder; and epilepsy. The other exclusion criteria are any medical condition, which preclude using medication or continuing medication. They do not have to take any psychotropic medication two weeks before starting the study.
Intervention: Consent informant will be obtained from parents. Then children randomly divide into two groups. Group one takes Aripiprazole plus Risperidone placebo and the second group takes Risperidone plus Aripiprazole placebo. The clinician and parents are both blind to treatment. The starting dosage of Risperidone is 0.25 mg daily and it will increase every other week depends on the child response. The starting dosage of Aripiprazole is 1.25 mg daily and titrate upward biweekly based on clinical response. Follow-up measures are the ADHD Rating Scale (ADHD RS), Children-Global Assessment Scale (C-GAS), Conners Rating Scale-Parent (CRSP) and side effect questionnaire. They will assessed for three months at the baseline, week 2, week 4, week eight and week 12. Statistician calculates the results statistically at the end.
Main outcome: decreasing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity scores in ADHD Rating Scale (ADHD-RS),Children-Global Assessment Scale (C-GAS), Conners Rating Scale-Parent (CRSP) measures