ArticleEvidence-based medicine2017
The Cochrane Collaboration withdraws a review on methylphenidate for adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Article in Evidence-based medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Methylphenidate for children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Extended-release methylphenidate for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Pharmacologic treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Feasibility of investigating methylphenidate for the treatment of sarcoidosis-associated fatigue (the FaST-MP study): a double-blind, parallel-arm randomised feasibility trial.BMJ open respiratory research · 2021Trial
- Use and misuse of prescription stimulants by university students: a cross-sectional survey in the french-speaking community of Belgium, 2018.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2022Article
- Management of ADHD in Prisoners-Evidence Gaps and Reasons for Caution.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Does Methylphenidate Work in Children and Adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?Pediatric reports · 2021Article
- The US Food and Drug Administration's authorisation of Purdue's controlled-release methylphenidate for adult ADHD: comments on the regulatory practice.Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine · 2021Article
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adults: A Population Survey on Public Beliefs.Journal of attention disorders · 2021Article
- Six-year outcome in subjects diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as adults.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2018Article
- Trends in use of prescription stimulants in the United States and Territories, 2006 to 2016.PloS one · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A Cochrane systematic review on immediate-release methylphenidate for adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was withdrawn from the Cochrane Library on 26 May 2016 after substantial criticism of its methods and flawed conclusions. Retraction of scientific papers on this basis is unusual but can be necessary. We provide a summary of the criticism that led to the withdrawal. We detail the methodological flaws of the withdrawn Cochrane systematic review and general issues of bias and shortcomings of the included ADHD trials: cross-over designs compared with parallel-group designs, exclusion of participants with psychiatric comorbidity, absence of 'functional outcomes' and use of clinical outcomes with limited relevance, short trial duration and small trial populations, broken blinding caused by easily recognisable side effects, combining outcome assessments by trial investigators and participants, outcome reporting bias, poor evaluation of cardiovascular and psychiatric harms and conflicts of interest of trialists and systematic reviewers. The withdrawal of the Cochrane systematic review signals recognition of previous unreliable clinical ADHD research. We conclude that clinical trials of immediate-release methylphenidate in adults with ADHD are of very low quality. We urgently need well-conducted long-term trials free of bias to assess the benefits and harms of central stimulant treatment in adult ADHD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.