A Preliminary Study of One Year Safety and Tolerability of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Medications in Youth with Fontan Palliation or Heart Transplant.

There are no published studies that examine the safety and tolerability of medication to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children with histories of Fontan palliation (Fontan) or heart transplant (HT), despite the high prevalence of ADHD in these populations. To address this gap, we examined the cardiac course, somatic growth, and incidence of side effects for one year after medication initiation amongst children with Fontan or HT and comorbid ADHD. The final sample comprised 24 children with Fontan (12 medication-treated, 12 control) and 20 children with HT (10 medication-treated, 10 control).

Implications of attention and executive functioning weaknesses in youth with Fontan circulation.

Youth with Fontan circulation (Fontan) are at-risk for impairments in attention and executive functioning (EF) due to a confluence of genetic, prenatal, surgical, and medical risk factors. We sought to describe attention and EF in this population, measured via standardized performance-based tests and caregiver rating scales. We then examined how weaknesses in attention and EF were related to outcomes in other neurobehavioral domains, including adaptive behavior and academic achievement.

Specific patterns of executive functioning weaknesses among children after heart transplant.

Background: Children with a history of heart transplant (HT) are at risk of executive functioning weaknesses secondary to heart disease and associated morbidity. However, specific executive functioning weaknesses have not been identified.

Method: The present study, anchored in Anderson's (2002) Developmental Model of Executive Functioning, provides a detailed, retrospective analysis of executive functioning in the areas of goal setting, cognitive flexibility, attentional control, and information processing for a clinically referred sample of 53 pediatric HT recipients who underwent neuropsychological evaluations as part of typical clinical care.