Growth effects of methylphenidate among childhood cancer survivors: a 12-month case-matched open-label study.

Background: To investigate the effect of stimulant medication [methylphenidate (MPH)] on growth patterns among survivors of childhood cancer (acute lymphoblastic leukemia or brain tumor).

Procedure: Using a case-matched comparison design, childhood cancer survivors participating in a 12-month open-label MPH trial (n = 51) were compared with childhood cancer survivors not taking MPH (n = 51). Measures of body mass index (BMI), height, and weight were obtained at hospital visits and corrected for gender and age using Centers for Disease Control normative data.

Results: Significant deceleration of BMI and weight, but not height, was observed during the 12-month MPH trial for those children taking MPH.

Conclusions: Childhood cancer survivors taking MPH experience significant, though modest, deceleration of BMI and weight across the first year of MPH intervention. The absence of height deceleration, and the presence of only modest BMI and weight deceleration, suggests that MPH is reasonably well tolerated by childhood cancer survivors with respect to growth. Such findings are encouraging in light of increasing evidence that MPH mitigates some of the cognitive late-effects of cancer treatments. Nevertheless, on a case-by-case basis, clinicians should balance the intended benefits of MPH with potential growth effects in this vulnerable population.