Evidence / 2018
Comparative efficacy and tolerability of medications for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, adolescents, and adults: a systematic review and network meta-analysis
Cortese S, Adamo N, Del Giovane C, et al. (2018). The Lancet Psychiatry.
- Population
- Children, adolescents and adults with ADHD
- Sample
- Network meta-analysis of randomised trials (see paper for trial count)
- Condition
- ADHD
- Medication focus
- Stimulants and non-stimulants used for ADHD
- Jurisdiction
- International
- Last reviewed
- 1 September 2026
- PMID
- 30097390
- DOI
- 10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30269-4
Plain-language finding
Network meta-analysis estimating comparative efficacy and tolerability of oral ADHD medications. Taking efficacy and safety together, the authors supported methylphenidate in children and adolescents, and amphetamines in adults, as preferred first pharmacological choices in those age groups — at the population level.
Important limitation
Trial populations are not the same as clinic populations. Short-term outcomes dominate. Tolerability in trials is not the same as long-term lived experience. Network meta-analysis assumptions matter.
Why we cite this
Key comparative efficacy and tolerability synthesis for ADHD medicines.
adhd · stimulant · efficacy · network-meta-analysis
Supported by clinical guidelines, regulatory information, systematic reviews, or well-established pharmacological knowledge. Still describes populations, not an individual.
Claims this source supports
For many people with ADHD, stimulant medicines can reduce core ADHD symptoms compared with placebo. That is a population finding, not a promise that a particular medicine will help a particular person.
Last reviewed 1 September 2026
One plausible possibility is that improved attentional discrimination gives some people more capacity to recognise internal signals that were already present. Current research supports interoceptive differences in ADHD and supports changes in attentional regulation with treatment. The complete pathway from stimulant treatment to improved interoceptive awareness has not been established.
Last reviewed 1 September 2026