Exercise therapy plus family intervention beneficial to children with ADHD

Children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who undergo exercise therapy combined with family intervention appear to show improvements in attention and executive function, social functioning, and school performance, according to a retrospective cohort study.

The study included 140 children with ADHD who were randomly allocated to the conventional treatment group (n=68; mean age 8.52 years, 66.18 percent male, mean weight 32.15 kg) and the combined intervention group (n=72; mean age 8.48 years, 69.44 percent male, mean weight 32.56 kg). Children in the combined group underwent behavioural therapy in addition to family intervention and medication, while those in the conventional treatment group received medication and health education only. The interventions lasted 14 weeks.

Outcomes included attention and executive function, physical activity levels, emotional regulation, social functioning, school performance, parental stress levels, parent-child relationship quality, and parental knowledge about ADHD.

The conventional and combined intervention groups were similar in terms of ADHD severity score (24.62 vs 24.83; p=0.776), parental education (14.83 vs 15.26 years; p=0.255), and Conners score (16.78 vs 17.26; p=0.377).

After the intervention, the combined intervention group showed significantly higher attention function score (correct letter elimination rate: 87.62 percent vs 83.75 percent; p=0.015), executive function score (52.67 vs 49.83; p=0.034), social functioning score (36.42 vs 32.85; p=0.035), and school performance score (21.48 vs 17.84; p=0.033) compared with the conventional treatment group.

Additionally, parental stress levels were significantly lower in the combined vs the conventional intervention group (19.43 vs 21.84; p=0.019), as were parent-child relationship quality (85.36 vs 81.83; p=0.019) and parental knowledge about ADHD (31.35 vs 28.87; p=0.014).