Evidence review for combined pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments review
Evidence review F
NICE Guideline, No. 87
Authors
National Guideline Centre (UK).1. Combined pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments
1.1. Review question: What is the most clinically and costeffective combination of pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment for people with ADHD?
1.2. Introduction
Combining medication and non-pharmacological therapy has the potential to increase effectiveness compared with one treatment alone. In people with ADHD combining treatments may increase effects on core ADHD symptoms through the interaction of the two approaches. The potential value of combining medication and non-pharmacological therapy for people with ADHD might lead to beneficial effects in different domains. For example, medication targeting the core ADHD symptoms such as inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, and psychosocial interventions targeting secondary problems and coexisting conditions associated with ADHD. Combining pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches may also have the potential to deliver both immediate effects on ADHD symptoms through medication, along with more long-lasting effects through the development of behavioural and cognitive skills and strategies. This review evaluates the evidence on the use of combined interventions where medication and non-pharmacological therapies are used together to treat ADHD and while the two approaches are complimentary head to head comparisons between the two are evaluated.
This review should be read alongside evidence review C on pharmacological efficacy and sequencing, evidence report D on pharmacological safety and evidence report E on non-pharmacological efficacy and adverse events.
1.3. PICO table
For full details see the review protocol in appendix A.
Table 1
PICO characteristics of review question.
1.4. Methods and process
This evidence review was developed using the methods and process described in Developing NICE guidelines: the manual.46 Methods specific to this review question are described in the review protocol in appendix A.
Declarations of interest were recorded according to NICE’s 2014 conflicts of interest policy.
Evidence was divided into the following categories:
- Non-pharmacological treatments versus pharmacological treatments
- Combined treatments versus non-pharmacological treatments
- Combined treatments versus pharmacological treatments
- Combined treatments versus no treatment/treatment as usual
- Combined treatments versus any other combined treatment
Studies were not included if they systematically selected a population who were responders to the primary treatment under investigation (for example a population of only responders to methylphenidate randomised to CBT alone or CBT with methylphenidate).
Evidence was separated into short term (under 3 months) and longer term (greater than 3 months. Evidence was also separated into whether the outcomes were assessed at the end of treatment (post-treatment (PT)) or at the end of a follow-up period beyond the treatment (follow-up (FU)).
A network meta-analysis was considered for this question but deemed inappropriate due to concerns over differences in trial populations, exact trial interventions and insufficient data available for the relevant outcomes (see the methodology chapter for further details). Although it was not deemed appropriate to conduct an NMA across the entirety of the clinical review, in order to pragmatically obtain the best possible evidence for the select areas in which health economic modelling was feasible and a high priority, a more restricted NMA was conducted. Please see Appendix 3 for more information
1.5. Clinical evidence
1.5.1. Included studies
Thirty-three studies (in 35 publications) were included in the review;1,3,9–13,17,20,21,24,26,28,34,36–38,41,43,44,49–52,54–56,59,61–63,65–68 these are summarised in Table 2 and Table 3 below. Evidence from these studies is summarised in the clinical evidence summary tables below.
See also the study selection flow chart in appendix C, study evidence tables in appendix D, forest plots in appendix E and GRADE tables in appendix F.
There were 0 studies in the under 5 year old category 23 studies in the 5 to 18 year old category and 10 studies in >18 year old category.
The majority of studies (n=23) compared combination to pharmacological interventions, 13 compared combination to non-pharmacological interventions, 8 compared pharmacological to non-pharmacological, 4 compared combination to usual care and 1 compared combination to another combination.
A number of studies included more than two arms and therefore contributed to more than one comparison.
1.5.2. Excluded studies
See the excluded studies list in appendix I.
1.5.3. Summary of clinical studies included in the evidence review
Table 2
Summary of studies included in the evidence review for children aged over 5 to 18.
Table 3
Summary of studies included in the evidence review for adults.
See appendix D for full evidence tables.
1.5.4. Quality assessment of clinical studies included in the evidence review
1.5.4.1. Children and young people aged 5 to 18
1.5.4.1.1. Pharmacological treatment versus non-pharmacological treatment in children and young people
Table 4
Clinical evidence summary: Atomoxetine versus parent/family training.
Table 5
Clinical evidence summary: Stimulants versus exercise.
Table 6
Clinical evidence summary: Stimulants versus Neurofeedback.
Table 7
Clinical evidence summary: Stimulants + non-specific supportive therapy versus stimulants.
Table 8
Clinical evidence summary: Mixed medication versus parent/family training.
1.5.4.1.2. Combination versus non-pharmacological treatment in children and young people
Table 9
Clinical evidence summary: Atomoxetine + parent/family training versus parent/family training.
Table 10
Clinical evidence summary: Atomoxetine + PE versus PE.
Table 11
Clinical evidence summary: Atomoxetine + CBT versus CBT.
Table 12
Clinical evidence summary: Stimulants + NF versus NF.
Table 13
Clinical evidence summary: Stimulants + CBT versus CBT.
Table 14
Clinical evidence summary: Mixed medication + PT/FT versus PT/FT.
1.5.4.1.3. Combination versus pharmacological treatment in children and young people
Table 15
Clinical evidence summary: Atomoxetine + PT/FT versus atomoxetine.
Table 16
Clinical evidence summary: Stimulants + PT/FT versus stimulants.
Table 17
Clinical evidence summary: Stimulants + PT/FT versus stimulants + NSST.
Table 18
Clinical evidence summary: Stimulants + attention/memory/cognitive training compared to stimulants.
Table 19
Clinical evidence summary: Stimulants + NF versus stimulants.
Table 20
Clinical evidence summary: Mixed medication + PT/FT versus mixed medication.
Table 21
Clinical evidence summary: Mixed medication + CBT versus mixed medication.
Table 22
Clinical evidence summary: Mixed medication + PE versus mixed medication + NSST.
Table 23
Clinical evidence summary: Mixed medication + sleep intervention versus mixed medication.
Table 24
Clinical evidence summary: Mixed medication + NF compared to mixed medication.
1.5.4.1.4. Combination versus no treatment/usual care in children and young people
Table 25
Clinical evidence summary: Atomoxetine + PT/FT versus placebo/usual care.
Table 26
Clinical evidence summary: Mixed medication + PT/FT versus placebo/usual care.
1.5.4.1.5. Combination versus other combined treatments in children and young people
Table 27
Clinical evidence summary: Stimulants + NF versus stimulants + attention/memory/cognitive training.
1.5.4.2. Adults over the age of 18
1.5.4.2.1. Pharmacological treatment versus non-pharmacological treatment in adults
Table 28
Clinical evidence summary: stimulants + NSST versus CBT.
1.5.4.2.2. Combination versus non-pharmacological treatment in adults
Table 29
Clinical evidence summary: stimulants + CBT/DBT versus CBT/DBT alone.
Table 30
Clinical evidence summary: stimulants + CBT/DBT + PT/FT versus NSST + PT/FT alone.
1.5.4.2.3. Combination versus pharmacological treatment in adults
Table 31
Clinical evidence summary: stimulants + CBT/DBT versus stimulants + NSST alone.
Table 32
Clinical evidence summary: mixed medication + CBT/DBT versus mixed medication alone.
Table 33
Clinical evidence summary: mixed medication + CBT/DBT versus mixed medication + NSST.
1.5.4.2.4. Combination versus no treatment/usual care in adults
Table 34
Clinical evidence summary: Stimulants + CBT/DBT compared to NSST alone.
See appendix F for full GRADE tables.
1.6. Economic evidence
1.6.1. Included studies
2008 guideline literature
One original model from CG72 in adults, looking at a combination of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments is included.
Details of the combination model in adults can be found in Table 35.
Published literature
No relevant health economic studies were identified from the update search.
See also the health economic study selection flow chart in Appendix C.
1.6.2. Excluded studies
Four studies were included in CG72 that could be included in the combination review. All were in children.18,29,31,39,69
All of these studies have been selectively excluded due to limited applicability and/or methodological limitations. These are listed in Appendix I, with reasons for exclusion given.
One original model from CG72 in children, looking at a combination of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments, has been selectively excluded because the clinical evidence feeding into this model is not included in the guideline clinical review (see Appendix I for more details), and will also be superseded by original modelling in children for this question.
See also the health economic study selection flow chart in appendix G.
1.6.3. Summary of studies included in the economic evidence review
Table 35
Health economic evidence profile: CBT added to medication versus medication alone in adults on medication but with clinically significant symptoms.
Table 36
Health economic evidence profile: combination of Atomoxetine + behavioural therapy versus atomoxetine versus behavioural therapy, in children.
Table 37
Health economic evidence profile: Methylphenidate + self-help behavioural therapy versus methylphenidate, in children on methylphenidate but with functional impairment.
Table 38
Health economic evidence profile: Medication + CBT versus medication, in adolescents on medication but with clinically significant symptoms.
1.6.4. Health economic model
The previous guideline model evaluating combination treatments in comparison to medication alone or behavioural therapy alone, in children, was based on two studies that directly compared the three interventions. The focus was on stimulants as the medication. The question on combination treatments was decided as the first priority for economic modelling because there is a highly relevant trade-off with regards to whether the benefit of any additional interventions are worth the additional cost. It is also considered highly important in mental health for patients to have choices about what treatments they might prefer. Therefore, updating the previous model which sought to compare different types of treatments as well as the combination of the two, would help inform; the treatment pathway to be recommended as to whether there is a hierarchy regarding pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments, and also whether the combination is cost effective.
There are three models replacing the previous combination model in children, as the clinical data identified from the combination review that had dichotomous outcomes needed for any models was sparse and the committee felt that some interventions couldn’t be combined together. An overview of the 3 models and their results are discussed below, with further detail in the write-up (Appendix 1).
1. Atomoxetine combination model
Model overview
Being evaluated in the model is the combination of Atomoxetine and (group) behavioural therapy, compared to Atomoxetine alone and behavioural therapy alone.
The model is a decision tree with a 1 year time horizon. Atomoxetine dose in the model is using a maintenance dose of 1.2mg/kg per day. Behavioural therapy consists of 10 weekly sessions of 1 hour of parent training with a clinical psychologist (in keeping with the behavioural therapy resource use in the parent training model). Combination treatment is the sum of both these interventions.
The population is children with ADHD, with an age range of 5-15 from the studies informing effect, with average ages of 8-11. They are mixed populations in the sense that some people in the trials have tried medication before, but there is no selective inclusion based only on previous non-response. Because patients begin treatment when they enter they model (as that was how the trials were set up) then in the interventions that include atomoxetine, there is a probability of withdrawal from the treatment because of intolerable side effects. At the end of duration of the trials (10 weeks), patients from all the treatments are either classified as responders or non-responders. Responders remain on the treatment (if it involves atomoxetine, because behavioural therapy is a short term treatment) and remain responding until the end of the model. Patients can also experience adverse events that are tolerable and do not cause them to withdraw from the treatment, but do lead to a decrement in quality of life. If a patient withdraws because of adverse events, or does not respond to the treatment and therefore stops the treatment, then they go on to what is referred to as ‘other treatment’. There are no adverse events assumed from behavioural therapy.
No further lines of treatment were modelled because assumptions would be needed about what these would be, and there is a lack of data on probabilities that are dependent on prior treatment choices. An overarching state of ‘other treatment’ was used as a catch-all to represent other treatment that patients might go on to, i.e. an overall probability of response in the general ADHD child population in which some people may be on a variety of treatments and some people may not be on any active treatment. The cost of ‘other treatment’ is represented only in terms of resource use (the number of consultations associated with responders and non-responders). This is because resource use in terms of staff consultations (with a psychiatrist or nurse) is already included as a key part of the cost of starting and continuing Atomoxetine, and therefore it made sense to continue including this resource use for the whole time horizon of the model so as not to bias against Atomoxetine or for not responding to be a cheaper outcome.
Data
3 studies inform the treatment effect of this model, with an average trial duration of 10 weeks. One comparing all 3 comparisons21, one comparing the combination with atomoxetine alone65, and one study compared the combination with behavioural therapy alone58. Note that where an intervention from the studies had a placebo pill in combination with a behavioural therapy; for the purposes of the model this is being treated as only behavioural therapy. The studies had some differences in terms of intensity of treatments, population medication status, and scales used to define response. But they were combined because they included atomoxetine as the drug. The probabilities of response for each intervention were derived from a network meta-analysis of the three studies undertaken by the health economist for to inform the model. Probability of discontinuation and adverse events was taken from the guideline clinical review.
Resource use such as doses of atomoxetine during titration and maintenance, and staff costs associated with monitoring treatments as well as the staff costs associated with behavioural therapy were elicited from the committee. Utilities were from the same source as the parent training model, as for all the models in the guideline. The utility gain from response is assumed to increase linearly over the trial period to reflect that the effect may not be immediate.
Results
The probabilistic base case results showed that behavioural therapy was the most cost effective because it had the highest net benefit, and also the ICERS of Atomoxetine compared to behavioural therapy (£44,175 per QALY), and combination treatment compared to Atomoxetine (£56,219 per QALY) were above the threshold of £20,000, demonstrating that the additional benefit does not justify the cost of the more expensive interventions.
Various sensitivity analyses were also explored; assuming the response from behavioural therapy decreases linearly from the end of treatment to end of the model for BT alone and combination arms. This showed behavioural therapy still had the highest net benefit, but atomoxetine had a lower ICER than in the base case. This is because reducing the effectiveness of behavioural therapy led to lower total QALYs for the other interventions. Another sensitivity analysis assumed behavioural therapy was individual rather than a group treatment; this increased the cost of the intervention to the extent that behavioural therapy was dominated by atomoxetine. Atomoxetine was now the most cost effective intervention because combination treatment had a very high ICER compared to atomoxetine (£399,620). A final sensitivity analysis also looked at using alternative sources of utility other than the EQ-5D. This showed that although the results were sensitive to changes in the QALY, behavioural therapy still had the highest net benefit.
This model aimed to compare the cost effectiveness of starting a combination of Atomoxetine and behavioural therapy, compared to starting Atomoxetine alone, or a course of behavioural therapy. Although Atomoxetine is a drug that would most likely not be at the beginning of the treatment pathway, the interventions included in the model are comparisons that were identified in the clinical review that had appropriate outcomes that could be utilised in a model. Therefore what the model is really answering is; in children who may be considering using atomoxetine, is it cost effective alone, or in combination with behavioural therapy, or is behavioural therapy alone the best choice in terms of cost effectiveness. What conclusions can be drawn from the model are highly dependent on the clinical data used, and the assumptions made about future pathways in the model and inputs such as resource use.
Limitations include; the clinical effect only being based on 3 studies. Bringing together the conclusions of dichotomous outcomes (what this model is based on) with the clinical review that used continuous outcomes is also a challenge as the two types of outcomes do not always agree. The committee opinion was that the clinical review in general is unlikely to have captured all the benefits of non-pharmacolgical treatment, because these are wider than just ADHD core symptoms. Other benefits also may not have been captured such as longer term impacts which are unknown, and the impact on other sectors. It was not possible to model all treatments individually and in sequences compared to each other and so assumptions (or the lack of) made about further treatment is also a limitation.
2. MPH + self-help behavioural therapy model
Model overview
This model is comparing staying on MPH if you are a partial responder versus adding telephone assisted self-help behavioural therapy in children. The model is interested in the added value of a behavioural therapy on top of medication. The intervention involved parents reading 8 self-help booklets dealing with disruptive behaviour disorders and parenting that were mailed to them approximately every 2 weeks. Parents received 10 phone consultations of about 30 minutes each in the first 6 months, and then 4 booster calls during the second 6 months.
The population is children with ADHD who are on a stable dose of MPH, but had functional impairment (in the study this was functional impairment in at least one of the domains of the Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale). This can be seen as the baseline population because children are on MPH in both the intervention and the control group.
This is based on a single study reporting outcomes at 12 months. The GC thought that analysing the cost effectiveness of this study would be useful because it is an intervention they envisaged could be used as a baseline intervention in current practice because; it is more longer term than the usual courses of behavioural therapy, it involves self-help and telephone consultations. Although, as the intervention will be provided on an individual basis, the cost of the behavioural therapy is likely to be high.
The model is a decision tree model with a 1 year time horizon. Children enter the model being stable on methylphenidate, and can either remain on methylphenidate or add behavioural therapy. As the model is using a time horizon of 12 months and the trial data is also 12 months long – no assumptions need to be made beyond 12 months about what patients might then go on to.
Data
As mentioned above clinical data is based on a single study.9 The only costs included in the model are the costs of the behavioural therapy, as any other costs are assumed to be common to the both arms. Utilities are also from the same source as the other models, with additional sources being tested in a sensitivity analysis. The utility gain from response is assumed to increase linearly over the trial period to reflect that the effect may not be immediate. The response probabilities are derived from analysis in Winbugs software which gave simulations of baseline and treatment response probabilities to use in the PSA.
Results
The probabilistic base case results showed the ICER of the intervention to be very high (£114,803). The additional benefit from the intervention cannot justify the additional cost of providing the intervention. It is a resource intensive intervention on top of medication because staff time spent on the phone is needed which means the intervention is provided on an individual basis.
A threshold analysis on costs showed that the cost of the intervention would have to be around 17% what it is in the base case to make the intervention cost effective, which is a significant reduction. This would equate to somewhere between two to three 30 minute phone calls. A threshold analysis on QALYs showed that the incremental QALY would need to go from 0.0076 to 0.0434 to make the intervention cost effective. Varying the time horizon found that the effect would have to be stable after the intervention ended up to at least 3 years to make the intervention cost effective. When varying both the time horizon and the utility gain simultaneously, this also showed that around 3.5 years at minimum (regardless of changes in utility gain) would be needed for the ICER to be under £20,000 per QALY. A 2-way sensitivity analysis varying both the baseline response probability and the intervention response relative risk showed that there is not any level of combination of baseline risk and relative risk that would make the intervention cost effective. Varying the utility values using different sources also showed that the model was sensitive to QALYs but the ICERs still remained high.
When assuming the effect increases linearly to 6 months (as the phone calls are more intense up until that point), and stays at that level until 12 months, as opposed to increasing linearly to 12 months; This showed that although the ICER fell, it was still above the NICE threshold because although there is a higher incremental QALY, this is still not high enough to justify the cost.
The results have to be interpreted with caution, because the model is only comparing the addition of a self-help non-pharmacological intervention on top of what was used as a baseline in the study (on MPH). It does not tell us about what else might be cost effective that a patient could add or switch to if they are a partial responder, only that what we have investigated as an addition is not cost effective. It also needs to be interpreted with caution as to whether the results can be extrapolated to other treatments that patients might only be partially responding to. But given the 2-way sensitivity analysis, we can be fairly confident that even another treatment with a higher baseline response rate or higher relative risk wold still not improve the ICER to a level considered cost effective.
This model is not without its limitations. It is only based on a single study. It can be difficult to also marry-up the conclusions of the model with what might be interpreted from the clinical review about the interventions in question. On a continuous scale, the improvements may be more subtle and there could still be an improvement in quality of life even if someone hasn’t gone from non-response to response. For the study this model is based on (Dose 2016), the clinical review did not find the intervention clinically effective based on continuous outcomes (using the guideline cut-off of >20% of the control group risk). However, using the clinical review MID for dichotomous outcomes implies that the intervention has clinical benefit. Therefore the two outcomes are in conflict here. The committee opinion was that the clinical review in general is unlikely to have captured all the benefits of non-pharmacolgical treatment, because these are wider than just ADHD core symptoms. Other benefits also may not have been captured such as longer term impacts which are unknown, and the impact on other sectors. Structural assumptions keeping the model simple are also a limitation.
3. Medication + CBT model
Model overview
This model is comparing staying on medication if you are a partial responder versus adding (individual) CBT. The model is therefore interested in the added value of CBT on top of medication. The population are adolescents who are on a stable dose of medication for the last 2 months (medication is stated as an FDA approved medication for ADHD), but have clinically significant symptoms as rated by a CGI-S rating of 3 or above.
The intervention involved 12 sessions of individual CBT, and two additional parent only sessions were offered.
A with the previous models, the model is a decision tree model with a 1 year time horizon. Patients who enter the model are already on medication but have some clinically significant symptoms. Patients can either stay on their medication or add CBT on top of their medication. Outcomes are in terms of response or no response at the 4 month time-point because that was the length of the trial.
Data
This is based on a single study reporting outcomes at 4 months.55
The effect is extrapolated from 4 months to the end of the model (12 months). As the medication the adolescents are currently on is assumed to be the baseline or current practice, then this applies for the whole time horizon of the model. Everyone in the baseline arm of the model stays on the baseline for the whole time period regardless of whether they respond or not. It was decided to extrapolate the effects from the trial and not make further assumptions about what treatments people might go on to following the end of the trial period, as this would involve too many assumptions. It was felt that this would be a larger omission from a model that compared a drug to a non-drug comparison directly (like the ATX model), whereas here we are interested in the addition of an intervention to a common baseline. Because of the baseline applying to both arms it may also be argued that costs are likely to be similar for both arms even if people change treatments over time – unless they change to different treatments or at different times because of the intervention itself, but we had no information on this.
The response probabilities are derived from analysis in Winbugs software which gave simulations of baseline and treatment response probabilities to use in the PSA.
The only costs included in the model are the costs of CBT. The source for utility data is the same as has been used in all the models in this guideline. The utility gain from response is assumed to increase linearly over the trial period to reflect that the effect may not be immediate.
Results
The probabilistic base case results show that the addition of CBT is not cost effective (ICER of £62,007 per QALY). This is mostly down to the high cost of the intervention per person because it is individual rather than group format.
Various sensitivity analyses were conducted; one sensitivity analysis assumed that the effect of CBT diminishes and linearly decreases down from 4 months when the intervention ends to 12 months. This showed that the ICER increased to £105,192 per QALY because the incremental QALYs fell.
Threshold analyses showed that the number of sessions that would need to be provided to make the intervention cost effective would be between 3 and 4 – assuming the same level of effect. The incremental QALY between the intervention and comparison would need to be 0.0582 (base case 0.0188) to make the intervention cost effective. The time horizon of the model would also have to be almost 3 years to make the intervention cost effective, all other things being equal, again assuming the effect post treatment is maintained.
A 2-way sensitivity analysis varying both the baseline response probability and the intervention response relative risk showed that there is not any level of combination of baseline risk and relative risk that would make the intervention cost effective (assuming all other things the same like the base case cost). A 2-way sensitivity analysis varying both the time horizon of the model and the utility gain of responders over non-responders showed that the intervention is cost effective with a shorter time horizon if the incremental utility gain is higher, as expected. Please see Appendix 2 for more details. Finally, varying the utility values using different sources also showed that the model was sensitive to QALYs but the ICERs still remained high.
The model needs to be interpreted with caution because it can only be inferred that the addition of individual CBT is not cost effective compared to staying on something that you are only partially responding to. It is not providing any information on what other treatments might be more cost effective. There are likely to be other treatments that are more cost effective than adding CBT.
Limitations include (which are very similar to those of the previous model); the model is only based on a single study with a small population. There is somewhat of a discord between the data that the models use and the data that the clinical review extracted. As mentioned in the limitations section of the previous model – it may be that the improvements on a continuous scale may be more subtle and there could still be an improvement in quality of life even if someone hasn’t gone from non-response to response. From the clinical review using continuous outcomes; the study used in this model showed that the addition of individual CBT to mixed medication has a clinically important benefit. This agrees with the dichotomous outcome. Even though the two outcome types agree, it still remains that even though an intervention might be effective it isn’t effective enough to make it cost effective. The committee opinion was that the clinical review in general is unlikely to have captured all the benefits of non-pharmacolgical treatment, because these are wider than just ADHD core symptoms. Other benefits also may not have been captured such as longer term impacts which are unknown, and the iimpact on other sectors. The structural assumptions the model has made about not including assumptions about further treatment can be seen as a limitation if in fact the addition of CBT has an impact on underlying resource use.
See Table 36, Table 37 and Table 38 for summaries of all three models.
1.6.5. Unit costs
Drug costs
Relevant unit costs are provided below to aid consideration of cost-effectiveness. The drugs listed below are based on those identified from the clinical review as well as those commonly used even if the review did not find evidence on them, and therefore do not include the entire list of interventions from the protocol.
The costs below are illustrative. For the commonly used ADHD drugs; a low and high dose has been demonstrated and taken from the BNF. Some doses were not taken from the BNF and the reason for this is highlighted. Advice has also been taken from the BNF about whether a single dose per day or the doses can be divided, where available. For drugs that are not used for ADHD then the clinical review was used for dosing information.
Note that there can be various branded generic versions of a drug, but drugs of the same class with the same dose have the same cost in the drug tariff regardless of who manufactures it.
Table 39
UK costs of ADHD drugs for children.
Table 40
UK costs of ADHD drugs for adults.
The pricing structure of the different drugs can also impact the overall cost, as if you are taking a higher dose and you could do this once a day, then a higher dose tablet tends to be cheaper than taking two tablets of half the dose. So with most drugs there are economies of scale of the higher formulations. This isn’t always the case though. With some drugs it is possible to take only one tablet a day, such as the modified release versions, but with others you would need to take tablets at multiple points in the day, which means more pills per day of lower formulations.
Costs of other healthcare resource such as hospital appointments that may differ by intervention are illustrated below.
Other resource use
Table 41
Staff costs associated with selecting and monitoring medication treatment.
For example, people on stimulants may see healthcare professionals more frequently in the beginning in order to make sure the dose is appropriate and then may see healthcare professionals less frequently.
Non pharmacological treatment costs
Highlighted below are some costs associated with non-pharmacological treatment. Table 41 shows the costs of individual staff that may be providing treatment such as behavioural therapy/cognitive behavioural therapy
Costs can vary depending on the band of person providing the treatment. It is also common for the clinician to have an assistant to help with the administration and setting up of the training. The relevant bands for the respective roles were derived from the guideline committee when identifying the inputs for the parent training model.
Table 42
Staff costs associated with behavioural therapy.
The total costs of a course of treatment per person depend upon the number of sessions, whether it is a group or individual course, how much preparation is needed, the band of staff involved, and also the individual components that might make up the course (e.g. if training is also provided for family members/teachers (if children)).
Published costs
Some illustrations of specific costs of behavioural therapy training are provided below from the PSSRU;
Table 43
Published PSSRU costs on cognitive behavioural treatments.
1.7. Resource impact
We do not expect recommendations resulting from this review area to have a significant impact on resources.
1.8. Evidence statements
1.8.1. Clinical evidence statements
Children and young people aged 5 to 18
Atomoxetine versus PT/FT
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impression scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) and clinical global impressions scale (PT; 1 study very low quality).
- There was no clinically important benefit for ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) and ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality).
Stimulants versus Exercise
- No evidence for quality of life, ADHD symptoms total, clinical global impression scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality) and ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study moderate quality).
Stimulants versus NF
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impression scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures and emotional dysregulation.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality) and ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU teacher rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT self-rated; 2 studies very low quality) (FU self-rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU self-rated; 1 study very low quality) and academic performance (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU self-rated; 1 study very low quality).
- There was a clinically important harm for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU teacher rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality) and academic performance (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality).
Stimulants + NSST versus stimulants
- No evidence for quality of life, ADHD symptoms total, ADHD inattention symptoms, clinical global impression scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU teacher rated; 1 study very low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality).
Mixed medication versus PT/FT
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impression scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures and emotional dysregulation.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality) (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality) and ADHD inattention symptoms (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (FU teacher/parent rated; 1 study moderate quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality), numeracy outcomes (PT observer rated; 2 studies very low to moderate quality) and literacy outcomes (PT observer rated; 2 studies very low to moderate quality) (FU observer rated; 1 study moderate quality).
Combination versus non-pharmacological treatment in children and young people
Atomoxetine + PT/FT versus PT/FT
- No evidence for quality of life, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD symptoms total (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality) and clinical global impression scale (PT; 1 study low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) and ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality).
Atomoxetine + PE versus PE
- No evidence for clinical global impression scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures and emotional dysregulation.
- There was a clinically important benefit for quality of life (PT parent rated; 1 study moderate quality), ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 1 study high quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study high quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study high quality) and academic outcomes (PT parent rated; 1 study moderate quality).
Atomoxetine + CBT versus CBT
- No evidence for quality of life, ADHD hyperactivity symptoms, ADHD inattention symptoms, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT self-rated; 1 study low quality).
- There was a clinically important harm for ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) and clinical global impressions scale (PT; 1 study very low quality).
Stimulants + NF versus NF
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures and emotional dysregulation.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (FU teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) and academic outcomes (PT self-rated; 1 studies very low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU teacher rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU self-rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU self-rated; 1 study very low quality) and academic outcomes (FU self-rated; 1 study low quality).
- There was a clinically important harm for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality) and academic outcomes (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality).
Stimulants + CBT versus CBT
- No evidence for quality of life, ADHD hyperactivity symptoms, ADHD inattention symptoms, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT observer rated; 1 study high quality).
Mixed medication + PT/FT versus PT/FT
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures and emotional dysregulation.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality) (PT observer rate; 1 study low quality) and ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (FU teacher/parent rated; 1 study moderate quality), numeracy outcomes (PT observer rated ; 2 studies very low to low quality), literacy outcomes (PT observer rated; 2 studies very low to moderate quality) (FU observer rated; 1 study moderate quality).
- There was a clinically important harm for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study moderate quality).
Combination versus pharmacological treatment in children and young people
Atomoxetine + PT/FT versus atomoxetine
- No evidence for quality of life, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, emotional dysregulation, numeracy outcomes and literacy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD symptoms total (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 2 studies very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 2 studies very low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 2 studies very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 2 studies very low quality), clinical global impression scale (PT; 2 studies very low quality) and behaviour outcomes (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality).
Stimulants + PT/FT versus stimulants
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, emotional dysregulation, numeracy outcomes and literacy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 3 studies low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study low quality) (PT teacher rated; 2 1 study low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 2 studies moderate quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU teacher rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) and behavioural outcomes (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality).
Stimulants + PT/FT versus stimulants + NSST
- No evidence for quality of life, ADHD symptoms total, ADHD inattention symptoms, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality).
- There was a clinically important harm for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (FU teacher rated; 1 study very low quality).
Stimulants + attention/memory/cognitive training versus stimulants
- No evidence for quality of life, ADHD hyperactivity symptoms, ADHD inattention symptoms, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality).
Stimulants + NF versus stimulants
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures and emotional dysregulation.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality), (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU teacher rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU self-rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT self-rated; 2 studies very low quality) (FU self-rated; 1 study very low quality) and academic outcomes (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU self-rated; 1 study very low quality).
- There was a clinically important harm for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality) and academic outcomes (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality).
Mixed medication + PT/FT versus mixed medication
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events and minor adverse events.
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU teacher/parent rated; 1 study moderate quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT teacher rated; 3 studies very low to moderate quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study moderate quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study moderate quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study very low quality), behavioural outcomes (PT teacher rated; 2 studies very low quality), emotional dysregulation (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality), numeracy outcomes (PT; 2 studies very low to moderate quality), literacy outcomes (PT; 2 studies very low to moderate quality) (FU; 1 study moderate quality) and academic outcomes (PT teacher rated; 2 studies very low quality).
- There was a clinically important harm for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study moderate quality) (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality) and emotional dysregulation (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality).
Mixed medication + CBT versus mixed medication
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD symptoms total (PT self-rated; 2 studies low to moderate quality) (PT parent rated; 2 studies low to moderate quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT self-rated; 1 study low quality) (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) and ADHD inattention symptoms (PT self-rated; 1 study low quality) (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality).
Mixed medication + PE versus mixed medication + NSST
- No evidence for quality of life, ADHD symptoms total, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse event and literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) and ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (FU parent rated; 1 study low quality), behavioural outcomes (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study low quality) and emotional dysregulation (PT parent rated; 1 study moderate quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study low quality).
Mixed medication + sleep intervention versus mixed medication
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 2 studies very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 2 studies low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT teacher rated; 2 studies very low to low quality) (PT parent rated; 2 studies very low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 2 studies very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 2 studies low quality) and behavioural outcomes (PT teacher rated; 2 studies very low to low quality).
Mixed medication + NF versus mixed medication
- No evidence for quality of life, ADHD hyperactivity symptoms, ADHD inattention symptoms, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD symptoms total (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality) and behavioural outcomes (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality).
Combination versus no treatment/usual care in children and young people
Atomoxetine + PT/FT versus placebo/usual care
- No evidence for quality of life, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study very low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study very low quality) and clinical global impressions scale (PT; 1 study very low quality).
Mixed medication + PT/FT versus placebo/usual care
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures and emotional dysregulation.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality) and ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT teacher/parent rated; 1 study moderate quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT observer rated; 1 study moderate quality), numeracy outcomes (PT observer rated; 2 studies very low to moderate quality) and literacy outcomes (PT observer rated; 2 studies very low to low quality) (FU observer rated; 1 study moderate quality).
- There was a clinically important harm for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality).
Combination versus other combined treatments in children and young people
Stimulants + NF versus stimulants + attention/memory/cognitive training
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, emotional dysregulation, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD inattention symptoms (FU teacher rated; 1 study high quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 1 study moderate quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study moderate quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study moderate quality) (FU teacher rated; 1 study moderate quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study moderate quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study moderate quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study moderate quality) (FU teacher rated; 1 study moderate quality) and ADHD inattention symptoms (PT parent rated; 1 study moderate quality) (PT teacher rated; 1 study moderate quality) (FU parent rated; 1 study moderate quality).
Adults over the age of 18
Pharmacological treatment versus non-pharmacological treatment in adults
Stimulants + NSST versus CBT
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT self-rated; 1 study low quality) (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT observer rated; 1 study moderate quality) and emotional dysregulation (PT self-rated; 1 study moderate quality).
Combination versus non-pharmacological treatment in adults
Stimulants + CBT/DBT versus CBT/DBT alone
- No evidence for quality of life, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD symptoms total (PT self-rated; 1 study low quality) (PT observer rated; 1 study moderate quality) and clinical global impressions scale (FU; 1 study high quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT self-rated; 1 study low quality) (PT observer rated; 2 studies low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality), emotional dysregulation (PT; 2 studies moderate quality) and clinical global impressions scale (PT; 1 study low quality).
- There was a clinically important harm for ADHD symptoms total (PT self-rated; 1 study low quality).
Stimulants + CBT/DBT + PT/FT versus NSST + PT/FT alone
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality), child ADHD symptoms total (PT parent rated; 1 study low quality) and emotional dysregulation (PT parent rated; 1 study moderate quality).
Combination versus pharmacological treatment in adults
Stimulants + CBT/DBT versus stimulants + NSST alone
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT self-rated; 1 study moderate quality) (PT observer rated; 1 study moderate quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT observer rated; 1 study moderate quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT observer rated; 1 study moderate quality) and emotional dysregulation (PT; self-rated 1 study moderate quality).
Mixed medication + CBT/DBT versus mixed medication alone
- No evidence for discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for ADHD symptoms total (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality) (PT self-rated; 3 studies very low quality) (FU self-rated; 2 studies very low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (FU self-rated; 2 studies very low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT self-rated; 2 studies very low quality)(FU self-rated; 2 studies very low quality), clinical global impressions scale (PT; 1 study low quality), emotional dysregulation (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality) (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality) (FU self-rated; 1 study low quality) and behavioural outcomes (FU; 1 study very low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for quality of life (PT; 1 study very low quality) (FU; 1 study very low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT self-rated; 2 studies very low quality) and behavioural outcomes (PT; 1 study very low quality).
Mixed medication + CBT/DBT versus mixed medication + NSST
- No evidence for discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural outcomes, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There was a clinically important benefit for clinical global impressions scale (PT; 1 study very low quality).
- There were no clinically important benefits for quality of life (PT; 1 study low quality), ADHD symptoms total (PT self-rated 2 studies very low quality) (FU self-rated 1 study very low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality) and emotional dysregulation (PT self-rated; 1 study very low quality).
Combination versus no treatment/usual care in adults
Stimulants + CBT/DBT compared to NSST alone
- No evidence for quality of life, clinical global impressions scale, discontinuation due to side effects, serious adverse events, minor adverse events, behavioural measures, literacy outcomes and numeracy outcomes.
- There were no clinically important benefits for ADHD symptoms total (PT self-rated; 1 study low quality) (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality), ADHD hyperactivity symptoms (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality), ADHD inattention symptoms (PT observer rated; 1 study low quality) and emotional dysregulation (PT self-rated; 1 study moderate quality).
1.8.2. Health economic evidence statements
CG72 evidence
- One cost-utility analysis found that medication + individual CBT was not cost effective compared to medication alone, for treating ADHD in adults on medication but with clinically significant symptoms (ICER: £65,279). This analysis was assessed as directly applicable with potentially serious limitations.
Update guideline evidence
- One original cost-utility analysis found that behavioural therapy was cost effective (had the highest net benefit) compared to atomoxetine, and a combination of behavioural therapy and atomoxetine, for treating ADHD in children. This analysis was assessed as directly applicable with potentially serious limitations.
- One original cost-utility analysis found that Methylphenidate + self-help behavioural therapy was not cost effective compared to methylphenidate alone, for treating ADHD in children on methylphenidate but with functional impairment (ICER: £114,803). This analysis was assessed as directly applicable with potentially serious limitations.
- One original cost-utility analysis found that medication + individual CBT was not cost effective compared to medication alone, for treating ADHD in adolescents on medication but with clinically significant symptoms (ICER: £62,007). This analysis was assessed as directly applicable with potentially serious limitations.
1.9. The committee’s discussion of the evidence
1.9.1. Interpreting the evidence
1.9.1.1. The outcomes that matter most
The committee considered quality of life, ADHD symptoms and CGI assessment of response to be critical outcomes. ADHD symptoms were separately considered as total, hyperactivity and inattention subscales. The committee did not prioritise any one subscale. ADHD symptoms were separately considered when reported by self, parent, teacher and investigator. The committee considered that all had their merit but that symptoms reported by teacher or investigator were likely to be the most objective assessment of effect.
The committee considered intervention related discontinuations, serious adverse events, behavioural/functional measures, emotional dysregulation and academic outcomes to be important outcomes.
1.9.1.2. The quality of the evidence
The committee noted that the body of evidence for this review was typically low or very low quality. There was no evidence in children under the age of 5 for this review. There was a larger body of evidence for children aged 5 to 18 than for adults over the age of 18. While there were a large number of studies meeting the criteria for the review, in general they were small studies providing imprecise results and only single studies per outcome.
The overall objective of the review was to compare the broad strategies of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions both for ADHD symptoms and behaviour, either in isolation or combination. As the committee agreed that different interventions under the headings of pharmacological and non-pharmacological may well have different effects, as established by the separate specific pharmacological and non-pharmacological reviews, these were kept separate. However it was difficult to determine whether or not conflicting results reported by two or more studies related specifically to the interventions under investigation or other factors that differed between trials (for example the exact previous treatment and response of the participants, the quality and content of usual care).
The committee noted that behavioural outcomes, on which one might expect non-pharmacological interventions to have a greater impact such as the outcomes focusing on behaviour and emotional dysregulation, were less commonly reported than ADHD symptom outcomes.
The committee noted that it is much more challenging to provide a true active control arm for non-pharmacological interventions compared with the use of placebo for pharmacological interventions, therefore the trials included in these reviews were rarely if ever blinded to the non-pharmacological intervention allocation.
The committee acknowledged that these limitations in the design of non-pharmacological treatments could impact on the interpretation of the effectiveness of non-pharmacological treatments.
The committee agreed that the quality of the evidence in the review was not sufficient to make strong recommendations about specific combinations of any interventions.
1.9.1.3. Benefits and harms
Overall (and children aged 5 to 18)
Overall the committee agreed that the evidence supported the following statements. Direct comparisons of pharmacological treatment with non-pharmacological treatment showed a benefit for pharmacological treatment, principally in terms of ADHD symptoms. Combined treatments showed a benefit in ADHD symptoms over either pharmacological treatment or non-pharmacological treatment in isolation, this benefit was larger and more consistently observed when compared with non-pharmacological treatment, although the benefit did not consistently equate to a clinically important difference as per the committee’s previously agreed thresholds. Combined treatments showed a benefit in ADHD symptoms compared to no active intervention or usual care. No comparison between any two combined treatments showed a clear picture of consistent clinically important benefit. The committee noted that although the above was an appropriate summary of the evidence, there were many comparisons showing no clinical difference and relatively frequent inconsistencies across the evidence base.
The benefits from the HE modelling were as follows: in the child atomoxetine combination model, total QALYS were as follows; behavioural therapy: 0.773, Atomoxetine: 0.790, combination treatment: 0.794. In the child methylphenidate + self-help behavioural therapy model, total QALYs were 0.7648 in the intervention arm (combination), and 0.7573 in the comparator arm. In the adolescent CBT combination model, total QALYs were 0.7748 in the intervention arm (combination), and 0.7561 in the comparator arm.
The committee noted that although it was not entirely clear from the evidence base, theoretically non-pharmacological treatments and pharmacological treatments are likely to be effective at targeting different aspects of ADHD. Pharmacological treatments may be better for treating the core symptoms of ADHD whereas non-pharmacological treatments may be more beneficial for improving the functional status of people with ADHD.
Before considering whether any treatment at all is necessary for ADHD symptoms, the committee recommended that appropriate environmental modifications were in place – in some situations this may be all that is required to address the impact of milder ADHD symptoms.
The committee noted that any treatment choice for ADHD is associated with potential harms. Drugs are often considered to be ‘more harmful’ (see the pharmacological adverse events review for more detail on specific adverse effects of various drug options), however non-pharmacological treatments may have specific harms of their own (for example for people who feel stigmatised by having to undergo parent training) and if a person’s treatment choice is not optimised to reduce their ADHD symptoms, there is harm from under treatment.
Children under the age of 5
There was no evidence identified in this review for this population. The committee agreed that the effects seen in children aged 5 to 18 were likely to be similar in the under 5 age group, however the committee noted that concerns around the adverse effects of medication in this younger age group.
Adults aged over 18
The committee noted that the studies in the combination review and non-pharmacological review in this age group focused heavily on CBT. CBT was specifically recommended in the previous guideline as the non-pharmacological intervention of choice in adults with ADHD. The non-pharmacological review supported the finding that CBT had a benefit for ADHD symptoms when compared with no intervention or usual care. However both reviews showed little difference between CBT and a non-specific supportive therapy. The committee was keen to emphasise that this did not imply a lack of efficacy of CBT and noted that the non-specific supportive therapies typically involved regular periods of face to face counselling. The committee agreed that this suggested that CBT is effective but that for some people, it may be possible to achieve similar benefits with structured programs that do not necessarily adhere to the principles of CBT.
Subgroups
There was insufficient evidence in this review to inform specific recommendations about subgroups of people with ADHD, either based on the severity of their symptoms or on any co-existing disorders.
Given the health economic evidence and the previous guideline recommendations, the committee agreed that it was appropriate to make consensus based recommendations on which groups may benefit from a combined approach. In children and young people, the committee supported the recommendations from the NICE guideline on antisocial behaviour and conduct disorders in children and young people, in which the families of all children with or at high risk of developing ODD/CD should be offered group parent training programmes.
Previous recommendations differentiated between children with mild or moderate ADHD and severe ADHD and suggested different strategies for the two groups. These recommendations were purely consensus based as no evidence existed to support that differentiation. In this update, again no evidence was found to support a differential strategy based on severity. However again the committee’s consensus view was that medication should be reserved for those in whom ADHD was having significant impairment on their life. The committee agreed that as short term adverse effects of medication are well reported compared to other treatment approaches it is difficult to compare harms across treatments, but they are present in people that take medication (as documented in evidence report D on pharmacological safety) and healthcare professionals should only be offering medication to children in whom the risk benefit balance supported this decision. To achieve this aim, the committee recommended that medication should be first line treatment for those in whom environmental modifications had not reduced the impact of ADHD symptoms on at least one area of a child or adults’ everyday life. This categorisation differs from the previous guideline’s use of ‘severe ADHD’ and the committee agreed it was appropriate to focus more on the impact of symptoms as opposed to a diagnostic assessment of severity of disease. Addressing persistent symptoms in one domain is important in this age group, for example, parent/carer training and environmental modification may have reduced impairment in situations and relationships at home but not at school, it is important that the impairment at school is addressed to ensure the child or young person is has the best opportunity to achieve at school.
The committee noted that much of the evidence in this review on atomoxetine in children came from a study specifically looking at children with ADHD and ASD. Few of the pooled comparisons included this evidence but where this was the case – there was no obvious heterogeneity to support a different treatment effect in this population compared to the general population..
1.9.2. Cost effectiveness and resource use
No published economic evidence was identified for this question. Four studies included as economic evidence for this question in the previous guideline have been selectively excluded for reasons of applicability and methodological quality.
The previous guideline conducted two original economic models looking at combination treatments versus individual treatments, one in children and one in adults. The child model has been selectively excluded because it was based on two studies not included in the clinical review, it is however also superseded by three new models on combinations in children. The adult model is included in this update because no new modelling has been undertaken for adults as it was not felt to add value or change the conclusions of the previous model. A summary of the existing adult combination model and new children models can be found below.
The previous model in adults was in a population of adults with ADHD who are stable on medication but have clinically significant symptoms, and compared adding CBT to medication versus staying on medication alone. It was a decision tree model with a 1 year time horizon based on two short terms trials for clinical effect. This found that the addition of CBT was not cost effective with an ICER of £65,279 per QALY. This analysis was rated as directly applicable with potentially serious limitations, such as only based on two trials, extrapolation of effect, and only included intervention costs.
New health economic analysis – Atomoxetine combination model
The previous child model was updated because it was expected there would be new data in children, and the combination questions have economic implications in terms of the trade-off between two interventions together having a large resource impact weighed up against whether the additional effect is enough to make them cost effective. It was discussed whether the effects of two different types of interventions were expected to be additive, and this was not believed to be the case, therefore even if pharmacological treatment is cost effective compared to doing nothing, and non-pharmacological treatment is cost effective compared to doing nothing; we cannot make the assumption that both together would therefore be cost effective. Only dichotomous outcomes could be used for a model to link to quality of life, which automatically reduces the pool of studies that can be used from the clinical review. The studies that had dichotomous outcomes had comparisons that the committee felt couldn’t be combined, particularly around the differences in behavioural treatments for example it would not be appropriate to combine parent training with CBT. This is why the previous child model is being superseded by 3 models.
The first child model compared atomoxetine in combination with behavioural therapy (group parent training), to atomoxetine alone and behavioural therapy alone. This was a decision tree model with a one year time horizon. The population was mixed in terms of some children in the trials having treatment before, but none selected people specifically who were previous non-responders (or responders). Patients could withdraw from adverse events of atomoxetine and the model also included tolerable adverse events that had a utility decrement but treatment continued. Resource use of drugs and behavioural therapy were elicited from the committee. Clinical effectiveness was from 3 studies and these were combined in a network meta-analysis for the model. The probabilistic results showed behavioural therapy was the most cost effective. This was the cheapest and also the least effective intervention, but had the highest net benefit because the ICERs (when comparing an intervention to the next cheapest) were above the NICE £20,000 threshold (Atomoxetine compared to behavioural therapy: £44,175 per QALY, and combination treatment compared to Atomoxetine: £56,219 per QALY). Atomoxetine is more costly than behavioural therapy because of the ongoing monitoring required for each child, whereas the cost of behavioural therapy is spread over a group of children and is only for a short time frame. A sensitivity analysis using individual behavioural therapy costs showed that atomoxetine dominated behavioural therapy, and atomoxetine was the most cost effective compared to combination treatment. Another sensitivity analysis made assumptions about the effect of behavioural therapy diminishing after the treatment duration (10 weeks) and going down to zero by the end of the model (whereas in the base case the responders were assumed to remain responders for the whole time horizon), behavioural therapy still had the highest net benefit. Using different sources of utility values that derived utilities in different ways (such as direct valuation of health states, and using another generic measure instead of the EQ-5D) also did not lead to a different result. This was done to reassure the GC about the sensitivity of the EQ-5D, which it was debated is perhaps inappropriate for this condition, but there is no empirical evidence to support this. This analysis was assessed as directly applicable with potentially serious limitations. This is because it is only based on a small number of trials, no assumptions were made about further lines of treatment and so the costs and QALYs may be being underestimated because a non-responder will most likely find other treatments that work for them to accrue QALYs and costs. Also, the committee highlighted that the effectiveness of non-pharmacological treatments is not well captured in trials and may be underestimated.
New health economic analysis – Methylphenidate + self-help telephone BT model
The second model compared methylphenidate with the addition of telephone self-help behavioural therapy versus methylphenidate alone, in a population of children who are partial responders to methylphenidate (i.e. from the single clinical study used for effect this is specifically children who are stable on methylphenidate but have some functional impairment). This was a decision tree model with a 1 year time horizon. The clinical study used for effect had 12 month outcomes. No adverse events or costs of methylphenidate were included because this was the baseline common to both arms. Only intervention costs of the behavioural therapy were included. Probabilistic results showed that the addition of the behavioural therapy was highly cost ineffective (ICER = £114,803 per QALY). The incremental cost was high because this is an individual therapy. The incremental QALY was also small because the difference in response probabilities between the comparisons was quite small. Threshold analyses showed that the cost of the intervention would have to be significantly smaller to make the intervention cost effective. See appendix 2 for further detail on other threshold analyses undertaken. A 2-way sensitivity analysis varying the treatment effect and baseline probability showed that no combination of baseline and treatment effect would make the intervention cost effective, all other things being equal. As with the previous model, different utility sources were used, and the effect increased linearly to 6 months and remained at that level (as the phone calls were more intense up to that point) rather than increasing linearly to 12 months. Neither of these sensitivity analyses changed the conclusions. This analysis was assessed as directly applicable with potentially serious limitations. Similarly to the last model; effect is only based on a small sample of data – one study, effect could have been underestimated, and the structure has been kept simple.
New health economic analysis – medication + CBT model
The third model compared medication with the addition of individual CBT versus medication alone. This was in a population of adolescents who were stable on medication but had some clinically significant symptoms. This was a decision tree model with a 1 year time horizon. No adverse events or costs of medication were included because this was the baseline common to both arms. Only intervention costs of CBT were included. The effectiveness of the comparisons was informed by a single study with trial duration of 4 months. Probabilistic results showed that the addition of the individual CBT was not cost effective (ICER = £62,007 per QALY) the incremental cost was again high because the intervention is individual and consists of 12 sessions. The cost of the intervention would need to be below around 32% of the base case cost to make the intervention cost effective. This equates to around 3 to 4 sessions or about 6 hours of CBT. The time horizon of the mode would need to be around 3 years to make the intervention cost effective. A 2-way sensitivity analysis of baseline and treatment effect showed that only with a very low baseline risk and very high treatment effect would the intervention be cost effective. If we also assume the effect of the treatment is not maintained the ICER becomes even larger (£105,192 per QALY). This analysis was assessed as directly applicable with potentially serious limitations. As with the previous models; effect is based on a single study, the effect may be being underestimated because trials are not good at capturing wider outcomes that CBT would address, the structure of the model is kept simple and so costs and effects may be being underestimated.
Children under the age of 5
See the non-pharmacological review and rationale for more information about recommendations in this age group. As a summary; medication is not recommended for this age group. The age of the children are considered too young to be medicated. A sensitivity analysis of the parent training model using a study in the under 5 group showed parent training to be cost effective in a group. Combinations are also not recommended in this group.
Children and young people aged over 5
Taking all the three models for children together, it can be concluded that it is uncertain if combination treatments (meaning combinations of pharma and non-pharma) are cost effective, because of their costs and also uncertainty about their treatment effect. If the behavioural therapy component is provided in a group, then this lowers the cost, which can have an impact on the result (this is more applicable however to parent training than it is to CBT – which is usually individual). However this is highly dependent on the treatment effect. The models need to be interpreted carefully because of the specific populations they are in; i.e. the implication in the second and third model is that a combination is being offered second line as they are partial responders to a drug, and also because they are on different drugs it needs to be taken into consideration with a consensus committee view about the ordering of treatments in the pathway. Additionally there is uncertainty as to whether results might be generalisable to other drugs for example.
This review was also about non-pharmacological treatments compared to pharmacological treatments. The only information on cost effectiveness available to us here is the comparison of atomoxetine versus behavioural therapy from the atomoxetine model. This showed that if we assume the effect of behavioural therapy continues, then atomoxetine is not cost effective compared to behavioural therapy. The drug price would have to be very small for atomoxetine to be cost effective because the costs of monitoring a drug far outweigh the costs of the behavioural therapy. If the effect is not maintained after the course has ended then atomoxetine becomes closer to being cost effective. But if the behavioural therapy is individual rather than a group then behavioural therapy is dominated by atomoxetine. However we haven’t included the costs of further treatment to see how this impacts the results, because less people respond on behavioural therapy so a higher proportion of that cohort may end up on more expensive treatments later on, and titrating and monitoring the effect of a drug is resource intensive. So there are downstream trade-offs that we haven’t been able to account for. It is accepted that pharmacological treatments tend to be more effective. There is also more data from the clinical review showing that drugs are effective versus placebo. And published cost effectiveness evidence also showed that drugs are cost effective versus no treatment. Therefore drugs were considered first line and are offered to all people in this age group.
Based on the cost effectiveness evidence showing that combinations are generally not cost effective, the committee did not recommend combinations for everyone (as supported by the atomoxetine model for example). The committee noted that good current practice provided group support for everyone diagnosed with ADHD that provided education about ADHD and provide -social support. Education about the condition was felt to be an important factor that was highlighted in the qualitative support review. The NICE guideline on patient experience highlights that information about your condition is important, and although it may not directly be an intervention and therefore improve health, it has other benefits that may not be captured in a measure like the QALY. The recommendation states that this could be as little as 1 to 2 sessions, and would incur significantly less cost than a full parent training programme.
It was acknowledged however as part of the review of medication (recommendation 1.10.1), that when medication has been optimised and there are still troublesome symptoms impacting on a person’s everyday life the needs of the patient should be further explored.
The results of the 1 year time horizon model on CBT (and also the telephone support model which was also about individualised treatment), that used a subset of clinical data, showed combinations not to be cost effective. However the committee were concerned that the clinical review (not just the model data) was not capturing the full effects of non-pharmacological treatment. The committee agreed that the effectiveness of non-pharmacological treatments on the condition is not well captured in trials. A more global function measure would be required to capture the impact on factors like self esteem, organisation, relationships, coping with ADHD and in general these more wider factors than just purely symptoms of hyperactivity and inattentiveness. Ideally quality of life or also perhaps the Clinical Global Impressions scales (CGI) are more global, but these were not as prominent in the review data as other outcomes that were more ADHD symptoms based.
The committee agreed it is likely there are benefits from behavioural therapies that are not being captured in the model. If t these were measurable and captured this would lead to more responders which would mean more people to accrue a higher quality of life in the model. It was the opinion of the committee therefore that particularly in adolescents, CBT in addition to medication that has been optimised would be effective at targeting those residual symptoms and this is good current practice. Hence despite the models’ conclusions the committee were uncertain about the results and made a recommendation based on their clinical judgement, to consider combinations in certain circumstances.
Adults aged over 18
For adults, medication was recommended as first line. Clinical evidence from the pharmacological review found medication to be effective. Clinical opinion also agreed with this. There is limited cost effectiveness in adults regarding whether pharmacological or non-pharmacological treatment is more cost effective. Extrapolating from the atomoxetine child model – CBT is the most common form of non-pharmacological treatment provided to adults, and so taking the sensitivity analysis from the atomoxetine model where behavioural therapy was individual tells us that medication is likely to be more cost effective, because of the resource use involved in providing individual behavioural therapy. Non-pharmacological treatment was considered however in the recommendations in specific circumstances. The previous guideline model on combination treatment versus medication in adults who are stable on medication but have remaining impairment (which had a 1 year time horizon and used only two studies for effect) found individual CBT to not be cost effective. Although this model was in the right population, in terms of being in partial responders to drugs (as we are not offering combination to everyone), again the previous arguments still stand that it was considered to have limitations because the trials may not be capturing the full effect of the intervention, which would increase response rates and make the intervention more cost effective. The committee agreed that the previous guideline recommendations about considering combinations in a certain group of adults should be carried forward on clinical grounds, as cost effectiveness was uncertain at best, rather than definitive. This is good current practice and not likely to have a resource impact.
1.9.3. Other factors the committee took into account
The committee agreed that the two treatment approaches target different aspects of ADHD and should not be seen as an either or option and treatment should be focused on the person’s needs. The committee noted that in an area where the evidence base is not definitive and the interventions under review have very different benefit and harm profiles, the element of patient choice and preference is of particular importance. The committee noted that people with ADHD who engage with their treatment choice are more likely to gain benefits, regardless of what that treatment choice is.
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Appendices
Appendix A. Review protocols
Table 44. Review protocol: Combined pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment
Appendix B. Literature search strategies
The literature searches for this review are detailed below and complied with the methodology outlined in Developing NICE guidelines: the manual, Oct 2014, updated 2017. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/pmg20/resources/developing-nice-guidelines-the-manual-pdf-72286708700869
For more detailed information, please see the Methodology Review.
B.1. Clinical search literature search strategy
Searches for were constructed using a PICO framework where population (P) terms were combined with Intervention (I) and in some cases Comparison (C) terms. Outcomes (O) are rarely used in search strategies for interventions as these concepts may not be well described in title, abstract or indexes and therefore difficult to retrieve. Search filters were applied to the search where appropriate.
Table 46. Database date parameters and filters used
B.2. Health Economics literature search strategies
B.2.1. Health economics search strategy
Health economic evidence was identified by conducting a broad search relating to ADHD population in NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED – this ceased to be updated after March 2015) and the Health Technology Assessment database (HTA). NHS EED and HTA databases are hosted by the Centre for Research and Dissemination (CRD). Additional searches were run on Medline and Embase.
B.2.2. Quality of Life search strategy
Quality of life evidence was identified by conducting a broad search relating to ADHD population in Medline and Embase.
Appendix D. Clinical evidence tables
Download PDF (2.1M)
Appendix E. Forest plots
E.1. Children and young people aged 5 to 18
E.1.1. Pharmacological treatment versus non-pharmacological treatment
E.1.1.1. Atomoxetine versus PT/FT
Figure 1. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 2. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 3. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 4. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 5. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 6. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
E.1.1.2. Stimulants versus exercise
Figure 8. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, SWAN, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 9. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, SWAN, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 10. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, SWAN, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 11. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, SWAN, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
E.1.1.3. Stimulants versus NF
Figure 12. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 13. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 14. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 15. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 16. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 17. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 18. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, SWAN, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 19. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 20. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 21. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, SWAN, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 22. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 23. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self-rated, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT, <3 months)
Figure 24. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self-rated, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT, >3 months)
Figure 25. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 26. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 27. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, SWAN, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 28. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 29. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 30. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, SWAN, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 31. ADHD symptoms (inattention, self-rated, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT, <3 months)
Figure 32. ADHD symptoms (inattention, self-rated, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT, >3 months)
Figure 33. ADHD symptoms (inattention, self, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 34. Academic (general, self, 1-10, high is good, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 35. Academic (general, self, 1-10, high is good, PT <3 months)
Figure 36. Academic (general, self, 1-10, high is good, PT >3 months)
E.1.1.4. Stimulants + NSST versus stimulants
Figure 37. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, CTRS, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 38. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, CTRS, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, FU >3 months)
Figure 39. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, CTRS, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 40. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, CTRS, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, FU >3 months)
E.1.1.5. Mixed medication versus PT/FT
Figure 41. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher and parent, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, FU >3 months)
Figure 42. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT, >3 months)
Figure 43. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 44. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, observer, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 45. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 46. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 47. Academic outcomes (maths accuracy %, observer, high is better, PT <3 months)
Figure 48. Academic outcomes (maths accuracy, observer, WIAT, 0-132, high is better, PT >3 months)
Figure 49. Academic outcomes (reading accuracy %, observer, high is better, PT <3 months)
Figure 50. Academic outcomes (reading accuracy, observer, WIAT, 0-132, high is better, PT >3 months)
Figure 51. Academic outcomes (reading accuracy, observer, WIAT, 0-132, high is better, FU >3 months)
E.1.2. Combined treatment versus non-pharmacological treatment
E.1.2.1. Atomoxetine + PT/FT versus PT/FT
Figure 52. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 53. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 54. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 55. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 56. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 57. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
E.1.2.2. Atomoxetine + psychoeducation versus psychoeducation
Figure 60. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-25, high is poor, CS, PT, <3 months)
Figure 61. symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-25, high is poor, CS, PT, <3 months)
Figure 62. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-25, high is poor, CS, PT, <3 months)
E.1.2.3. Atomoxetine + CBT versus CBT
Figure 64. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, DSM-IV checklist, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 65. ADHD symptoms (total, self, DSM-IV checklist, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT <3 months)
E.1.2.4. Stimulants + NF versus NF
Figure 67. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 68. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 69. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 70. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 71. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 72. symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 73. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 74. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 75. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self-rated, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT, <3 months)
Figure 76. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self-rated, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT, >3 months)
Figure 77. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 78. symptoms (inattention, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 79. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 80. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 81. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 82. ADHD symptoms (inattention, self-rated, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT, <3 months)
Figure 83. ADHD symptoms (inattention, self-rated, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT, >3 months)
Figure 84. symptoms (inattention, self, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 85. Academic (general, self, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 86. Academic (general, self, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT <3 months)
Figure 87. Academic (general, self, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT >3 months)
E.1.2.5. Stimulants + CBT versus CBT
Figure 88. ADHD symptoms (total, observer, ADHD-RS, 0-68, high is poor, FV, PT, >3 months)
E.1.2.6. Mixed medication + PT/FT versus PT/FT
Figure 89. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher and parent, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, FU >3 months)
Figure 90. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT, >3 months)
Figure 91. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 92. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, observer, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 93. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 94. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 95. Academic outcomes (maths accuracy %, observer, high is better, PT <3 months)
Figure 96. Academic outcomes (maths accuracy, observer, WIAT, 0-132, high is better, PT >3 months)
Figure 97. Academic outcomes (reading accuracy %, observer, high is better, PT <3 months)
Figure 98. Academic outcomes (reading accuracy, observer, WIAT, 0-132, high is better, PT >3 months)
Figure 99. Academic outcomes (reading accuracy, observer, WIAT, 0-132, high is better, FU >3 months)
E.1.3. Combined treatment versus pharmacological treatment
E.1.3.1. Atomoxetine + parent/family training versus atomoxetine
Figure 100. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 101. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 104. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, multiple scales, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 105. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, multiple scales, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 106. Responders by CGI-I (PT, <3 months)
Figure 107. Behaviour/function (behaviour, 0-100, high is good, teacher, PT, <3 months)
E.1.3.2. Stimulants + PT/FT versus stimulants
Figure 108. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, multiple scales, high is poor, FV, PT, >3 months)
Figure 109. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, SWAN, 0-3, high is poor, FV, FU, >3 months)
Figure 110. symptoms (total, teacher, DBDRS, 0-54, high is poor, FV, PT, <3 months)
Figure 112. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, CTRS, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, FU >3 months)
Figure 113. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, CTRS, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 114. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, CTRS, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, FU >3 months)
Figure 115. symptoms (inattention, parent, FBB-ADHS, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT, >3 months)
Figure 116. Behaviour/function (function, parent, WFIRS-P, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT, >3 months)
E.1.3.3. Stimulants + PT/FT versus stimulants + NSST
Figure 117. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, CTRS, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 118. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, CTRS, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, FU >3 months)
Figure 119. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, CTRS, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 120. symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, CTRS, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, FU >3 months)
E.1.3.4. Stimulants + attention/memory/cognitive training versus stimulants
Figure 121. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, Conners 48, 0-70, high is poor, FV, <3 months PT)
E.1.3.5. Stimulants + NF versus stimulants
Figure 122. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 123. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 124. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 125. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 126. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 127. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 128. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 129. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 130. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self-rated, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT, <3 months)
Figure 131. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self-rated, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT, >3 months)
Figure 132. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 133. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 134. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 135. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, <3 months)
Figure 136. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, Barkley’s, 0-54, high is poor, PT, >3 months)
Figure 137. ADHD symptoms (inattention, self-rated, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT, <3 months)
Figure 138. symptoms (inattention, self-rated, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT, >3 months)
Figure 139. ADHD symptoms (inattention, self, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 140. Academic (general, self, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 141. Academic (general, self, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT <3 months)
Figure 142. Academic (general, self, SRQ, 1-10, high is good, PT >3 months)
E.1.3.6. Mixed medication + PT/FT versus mixed medication
Figure 143. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, ADHD-RS-IV,0-54, high is poor, CS, FU, >3 months)
Figure 144. symptoms (total, teacher and parent, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, FU >3 months)
Figure 145. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, Conner’s, 0-20, high is poor, FV, PT, <3 months)
Figure 146. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, multiple scales, high is poor, FV, PT, >3 months)
Figure 147. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 148. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, observer, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 149. symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, ADHD-RS-IV, 0-54, high is poor, CS, FU, >3 months)
Figure 150. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 151. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 152. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, ADHD-RS-IV, 0-54, high is poor, CS, FU, >3 months)
Figure 157. Academic outcomes (maths accuracy %, observer, high is better, PT <3 months)
Figure 158. Academic outcomes (maths accuracy, observer, WIAT, 0-132, high is better, PT >3 months)
Figure 159. Academic outcomes (reading accuracy %, observer, high is better, PT <3 months)
E.1.3.7. Mixed medication + CBT versus mixed medication
Figure 164. ADHD symptoms (total, self, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT >3 months)
Figure 165. ADHD symptoms (total, self, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 166. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 167. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT >3 months)
Figure 168. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 169. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 170. ADHD symptoms (inattention, self, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 171. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
E.1.3.8. Mixed medication + PE versus mixed medication + NSST
Figure 172. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, CPRS, 0-27, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 173. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, CPRS, 0-27, high is poor, FV, FU >3 months)
Figure 174. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, CPRS, 0-27, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 175. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, CPRS, 0-27, high is poor, FV, FU >3 months)
Figure 176. Behaviour/function (opposition, parent, CPRS, 0-27, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 177. Behaviour/function (opposition, parent, CPRS, 0-27, high is poor, FV, FU >3 months)
Figure 178. Emotional dysregulation (SDQ, parent, 0-25, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 179. Emotional dysregulation (SDQ, parent, 0-25, high is poor, FV, FU >3 months)
E.1.3.9. Mixed medication + sleep intervention versus mixed medication
Figure 180. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 181. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 182. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT >3 months)
Figure 183. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT >3 months)
Figure 184. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 185. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 186. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT >3 months)
Figure 187. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT >3 months)
Figure 188. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 189. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT <3 months)
Figure 190. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT >3 months)
Figure 191. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, CS, PT >3 months)
Figure 192. Behaviour/function (teacher, SDQ, 0-54, high is poor, CS, <3 months PT
Figure 193. Behaviour/function (teacher, SDQ, 0-54, high is poor, CS, >3 months PT
E.1.3.10. Mixed medication + NF versus mixed medication
Figure 194. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, ADHD-RS, 0-54, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 195. Behaviour/function (CBRS, parent, unclear scale, high is poor, FV, PT <3 months)
E.1.4. Combined treatment versus no treatment/usual care
E.1.4.1. Atomoxetine + PT/FT versus placebo
Figure 196. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 197. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 198. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 199. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 200. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 201. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, higher is worse, FV, PT <3 months)
E.1.4.2. Mixed medication + PT/FT versus usual care
Figure 203. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher and parent, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, FU >3 months)
Figure 204. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT, >3 months)
Figure 205. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, parent, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 206. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, observer, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 207. ADHD symptoms (inattention, parent, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 208. ADHD symptoms (inattention, teacher, SNAP, 0-3, high is poor, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 209. Academic outcomes (maths accuracy %, observer, high is better, PT <3 months)
Figure 210. Academic outcomes (maths accuracy, observer, WIAT, 0-132, high is better, PT >3 months)
Figure 211. Academic outcomes (reading accuracy %, observer, high is better, PT <3 months)
E.1.5. Combined treatment versus other combined treatment
E.1.5.1. Stimulants + NF versus stimulants + attention/memory/cognitive training
Figure 214. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, DSM-IV, high is poor, unclear scale, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 215. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, DSM-IV, high is poor, unclear scale, FV, PT <3 months)
Figure 216. ADHD symptoms (total, parent, DSM-IV, high is poor, unclear scale, FV, FU >3 months)
Figure 217. ADHD symptoms (total, teacher, DSM-IV, high is poor, unclear scale, FV, FU >3 months)
E.2. Adults over the age of 18
E.2.1. Pharmacological treatment versus non-pharmacological treatment
E.2.1.1. Stimulants + NSST versus CBT alone
Figure 226. ADHD symptoms (total, self, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 227. ADHD symptoms (total, observer, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 228. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, observer, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 229. ADHD symptoms (inattention, observer, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 230. Emotional dysregulation (Self, BDI, 0-63, high is poor, FV, >3 months PT)
E.2.2. Combined treatment versus non-pharmacological treatment
E.2.2.1. Stimulants + CBT/DBT versus CBT/DBT alone
Figure 231. ADHD symptoms (total, self, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 232. ADHD symptoms (total, self, multiple tools, decreased by >30%, >3 months PT)
Figure 233. ADHD symptoms (total, observer, TAADDS, decreased by >30%, >3 months PT)
Figure 234. ADHD symptoms (total, observer, multiple tools, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 235. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, observer, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 236. symptoms (inattention, observer, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 237. Emotional dysregulation (multiple tools, 0-15, high is poor, FV, >3 months PT)
E.2.2.2. Stimulants + CBT/DBT + PT/FT versus NSST + PT/FT
Figure 240. ADHD symptoms (total, observer, CAARS, 0-36, high is poor, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 241. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, observer, CAARS, 0-36, high is poor, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 242. ADHD symptoms (inattention, observer, CAARS, 0-36, high is poor, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 243. Child’s ADHD symptoms (total, parent, SDQ, 0-10, high is poor, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 244. Emotional dysregulation (parent, SDQ, 0-10, high is poor, FV, >3 months PT)
E.2.3. Combined treatment versus pharmacological treatment
E.2.3.1. Stimulants + CBT/DBT versus stimulants + NSST
Figure 245. ADHD symptoms (total, self, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 246. symptoms (total, observer, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 247. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, observer, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 248. ADHD symptoms (inattention, observer, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 249. Emotional dysregulation (Self, BDI, 0-63, high is poor, FV, >3 months PT)
E.2.3.2. Mixed medication + CBT/DBT versus mixed medication alone
Figure 250. QoL (Flanagan, 16-112, high is good, FV, <3 months PT)
Figure 251. QoL (Flanagan, 16-112, high is good, FV, <3 months FU)
Figure 252. ADHD symptoms (total, observer, ADHD-RS, 0-54, higher is worse, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 253. ADHD symptoms (total, self, ADHD-RS, 0-54, higher is worse, FV, PT >3 months)
Figure 254. ADHD symptoms (total, self, Barkley, 0-54, high is poor, FV, <3 months PT)
Figure 255. ADHD symptoms (total, self, Barkley, 0-54, high is poor, FV, <3 months FU)
Figure 256. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self, Barkley, 0-27, high is poor, FV, <3 months PT)
Figure 257. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self, Barkley, 0-27, high is poor, FV, <3 months FU)
Figure 258. symptoms (inattention, self, Barkley, 0-27, high is poor, FV, <3 months PT)
Figure 259. ADHD symptoms (inattention, self, Barkley, 0-27, high is poor, FV, <3 months FU)
Figure 261. Emotional dysregulation (HAM-D, observer, 0-53, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 262. Emotional dysregulation (Self, BDI, 0-64, high is worse, FV, <3 months PT)
Figure 263. Emotional dysregulation (Self, BDI, 0-64, high is worse, FV, <3 months FU)
E.2.3.3. Mixed medication + CBT/DBT versus mixed medication + NSST
Figure 266. QoL (QLESQ, unclear scale, high is better, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 267. ADHD symptoms (total, self, ADHD-RS, high is worse, FV, 0-54, >3 months PT)
Figure 268. ADHD symptoms (total, self, ADHD-RS, high is worse, FV, 0-54, >3 months FU)
Figure 269. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, self, CAARS, high is worse, FV, 0-27, >3 months PT)
Figure 270. ADHD symptoms (inattention, self, CAARS, high is worse, FV, 0-27, >3 months PT)
Figure 271. CGI-I responders (>3 months PT)
Figure 272. Emotional dysregulation (Self, BDI, 0-63, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
E.2.4. Combined treatment versus no treatment/usual care
E.2.4.1. Stimulants + CBT/DBT versus NSST alone
Figure 273. ADHD symptoms (total, self, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 274. ADHD symptoms (total, observer, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 275. ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, observer, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 276. ADHD symptoms (inattention, observer, CAARS, 0-30, high is worse, FV, >3 months PT)
Figure 277. Emotional dysregulation (Self, BDI, 0-63, high is poor, FV, >3 months PT)
Appendix F. GRADE tables
Children and young people (5-18 years old)
DRUGS versus NON-DRUGS
COMBINATION versus NON-DRUGS
Table 57. Clinical evidence profile: Stimulants + NF versus NF for ADHD in children and young people
COMBINATION versus DRUGS
COMBINATION versus NOTHING
Adults (>18 years old)
DRUGS versus NON-DRUGS
Table 73. Clinical evidence profile: Stimulants +NSST versus CBT for ADHD in adults
COMBINATION versus NON-DRUGS
Table 74. Clinical evidence profile: Stimulants + CBT/DBT versus CBT/DBT for ADHD in adults
COMBINATION versus DRUGS
Table 77. Clinical evidence profile: Medication + CBT/DBT versus medication for ADHD in adults
COMBINATION versus NOTHING/USUAL CARE
Table 79. Clinical evidence profile: Stimulants + CBT/DBT versus NSST for ADHD in adults
Appendix G. Health economic evidence selection
* Non-relevant population, intervention, comparison, design or setting; non-English language
Appendix H. Health economic evidence tables
None.
Appendix I. Excluded studies
I.1. Excluded clinical studies
I.2. Excluded health economic studies
Appendix J. Research recommendations
J.1. Combination in children under 5
Research question: What is the clinical and cost effectiveness of pharmacological vs non-pharmacological treatment versus a combination in children under 5 with ADHD?
Why this is important:
Many children are diagnosed with ADHD under the age of 5 years. There is much hesitancy around the use of ADHD medication in this age group, although there has been little research into the option. There is more evidence in this age group supporting the efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions (for example parent- training programmes), but there is no evidence directly comparing the efficacy of this with pharmacological treatment or a combination of the two.
Criteria for selecting high-priority research recommendations
J.2. Combination in over 5s
Research question: What is the clinical and cost effectiveness of pharmacological vs non-pharmacological treatment versus a combination in children, young people and adults over 5 with ADHD?
Why this is important:
The question of the direct head to head comparisons between pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment or a combination of the two in children, young people and adults over 5 with ADHD is critical to treatment decisions. There are many small studies looking at a variety of specific interventions under this heading but a paucity of large, well conducted RCTs of the kind that would be required for stronger recommendations and more useful information for patients.
Criteria for selecting high-priority research recommendations
Final
Intervention evidence review
These evidence reviews were developed by the National Guideline Centre
Disclaimer: The recommendations in this guideline represent the view of NICE, arrived at after careful consideration of the evidence available. When exercising their judgement, professionals are expected to take this guideline fully into account, alongside the individual needs, preferences and values of their patients or service users. The recommendations in this guideline are not mandatory and the guideline does not override the responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or their carer or guardian.
Local commissioners and/or providers have a responsibility to enable the guideline to be applied when individual health professionals and their patients or service users wish to use it. They should do so in the context of local and national priorities for funding and developing services, and in light of their duties to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, to advance equality of opportunity and to reduce health inequalities. Nothing in this guideline should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.
NICE guidelines cover health and care in England. Decisions on how they apply in other UK countries are made by ministers in the Welsh Government, Scottish Government, and Northern Ireland Executive. All NICE guidance is subject to regular review and may be updated or withdrawn.