Characteristics of injuries in 240 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were reviewed retrospectively, using charts submitted to the National Pediatric Trauma Registry, 1988-96, by investigators from Tufts and Harvard Universities, Boston; Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago; and Johns Hopkins, Baltimore. Compared to controls without ADHD, trauma patients with ADHD sustained head injury more frequently (53% vs 41%), they were admitted to intensive care more frequently (37% vs 24%), and the injury led to disability in 53% vs 48%. They were more likely to be boys (88% vs 66%), and to be injured as pedestrians (27% vs 18%) or bicyclists (17% vs 13%). [1]

COMMENT. Parents of children with ADHD should be counselled about increased risks of injury and use of bicycle helmets. Previous reports have stressed the driving-related risks of ADHD adolescents and young adults and have emphasized the need to prolong stimulant therapy, especially in patients with comorbid oppositional behavior. ADHD patients who continue therapy have no more traffic related accidents than controls, (see Progress in Pediatric Neurology II, PNB Publ, 1994;pp209-210).