Does Hair Zinc Predict Amphetamine Improvement of Add/Hyperactivity?

Abstract

In 18 boys with ADHD (ages 6–12) in a balanced crossover design, parent and teacher hyperactivity rating differences between one month of dextroamphetamine and one month of placebo correlated significantly (p <. 05, 2 tailed) on Pearson's r with baseline hair zinc levels and nonsignificantly with 24-hour urinary zinc excretion. ‘The signs of the correlations were such that a higher baseline zinc predicted a better placebo-controlled response to amphetamine. Patient baseline urinary zinc was significantly (p <. 02) lower than 7 normal controls. These findings are compatible with the possibility that some ADHD children may be mildly deficient in zinc and constitute poorer stimulant responders. Correlations of zinc levels with 24-hour urinary MHPG were in the expected direction but nonsignificant by 2-tailed test.

Key Words:

• Zinc
• attention deficit
• amphetamine
• hyperactivity
• catecholamines
• MHPG