Objective:The short-term safety of methylphenidate (MPH) has been widely demonstrated; however the long-term safety is less clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the safety of MPH in relation to pubertal maturation and to explore the monitoring of bone age.Method:Participants from ADDUCE, a two-year observational longitudinal study with three parallel cohorts (MPH group, no-MPH group, and a non-ADHD control group), were compared with respect to Tanner staging. An Italian subsample of medicated-ADHD was further assessed by the monitoring of bone age.Results:The medicated and unmedicated ADHD groups did not differ in Tanner stages indicating no higher risk of sexual maturational delay in the MPH-treated patients. The medicated subsample monitored for bone age showed a slight acceleration of the bone maturation after 24 months, however their predicted adult height remained stable.Conclusion:Our results do not suggest safety concerns on long-term treatment with MPH in relation to pubertal maturation and growth.

中文翻译：

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哌醋甲酯对 ADHD 儿童和青少年青春期成熟和骨龄的影响：ADHD 药物使用慢性影响 (ADDUCE) 项目的结果

目的：哌醋甲酯（MPH）的短期安全性已得到广泛证实；但长期安全性尚不清楚。本研究的目的是调查 MPH 与青春期成熟相关的安全性，并探索骨龄监测。方法：ADDUCE 的参与者是一项为期两年的观察性纵向研究，具有三个平行队列（MPH 组、无 MPH 组）组和非 ADHD 对照组），根据 Tanner 分期进行比较。通过监测骨龄进一步评估了意大利药物 ADHD 子样本。结果：药物 ADHD 组和未药物 ADHD 组在 Tanner 阶段没有差异，表明接受 MPH 治疗的患者性成熟延迟的风险不较高。监测骨龄的药物子样本显示 24 个月后骨成熟略有加速，但其预测的成年身高保持稳定。 结论：我们的结果并未表明长期使用 MPH 治疗与青春期成熟和生长有关的安全性问题。