Complementary therapies for the management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children: a scoping review.
Lara Freire Szychta, Sara Emilly Lima Sombra, Glaubervania Alves Lima and 3 others
PMID 41191698WHAT IT FOUND
65 complementary therapies were mapped for children with ADHD, including neurofeedback, physical activity, yoga, supplements and diets.
Evidence was mixed and often inconclusive, so benefits cannot be assumed.
Key findings
01The review included 133 studies and 8,798 children diagnosed with ADHD.
0265 complementary therapies were identified, grouped into mind-body therapies, supplements, phytotherapy and dietary therapy.
03Neurofeedback, physical activity and yoga were the most reported mind-body therapies; polyunsaturated fatty acids, zinc and iron were the most reported supplements.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The authors restricted sources to Portuguese, English or Spanish and excluded studies with missing critical data or unreadable full text, which may have left out relevant work. It is a scoping review, so it mapped reported therapies rather than judging whether they work. The included studies were small and varied: 68 of 133 had 10 to 100 participants, and 35 did not state participant number. Most studies came from Asia, North America and Europe; none were identified from Central America. Some included studies classified as experimental did not specify their methodological design in detail.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that complementary therapies treat ADHD. The review mapped 65 therapies that have been reported, and the paper says evidence for many remains inconclusive.