Objective

With dual focus on structured, objective quantification of parent observations of child’s behavior and identifying behaviors most amenable to change, this report examines Parent Target Problems (PTP) as a secondary outcome in a randomized clinical trial (RCT) of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in which one primary outcome, Clinical Global Impression-Improvement, showed a significant advantage of multinutrients over placebo and the other, Likert-type parent ratings, showed significant improvement in both groups, without significant difference between them.

Method

In a multisite 8-week RCT of broad-spectrum micronutrients (“multinutrients”), parents of children ages 6–12 (N= 126, 73% male, 88% white) with ADHD and emotional dysregulation nominated their child’s most concerning problem (s) at baseline and quantified them by frequency, duration, impairment, and consequences. At subsequent visits, parents re-quantified the problem (s). Blinded child psychiatrists independently reviewed the PTPs and rated change at two timepoints compared to baseline. PTPs were grouped into 9 categories. Mean ratings were compared between active and placebo groups and explored by category.

Results

By week 8, a significant separation favored multinutrients: 38% of the multinutrient group were “definitely improved” or better, compared to 25% of the placebo group, and ratings of “no change” or “worse” occurred in 35% with placebo versus 23% with multinutrients (p= 0.04). Inattention (72.2%) and emotional dysregulation (69.1%) were the most frequently reported PTP categories. Inattention and internalizing symptoms improved more with multinutrients than placebo (p= 0.01, d= 0.55; p= 0.03, d= 0.80, respectively). The multinutrient advantage was not significant for 7 other symptoms, including hyperactivity/impulsivity, aggression, autistic symptoms, or emotional dysregulation/irritable oppositionality.

Conclusions

This secondary analysis found that the multinutrients, compared to placebo, were associated with improvements in parental concerns overall, and in two domains specifically: inattention and internalizing symptoms (anxiety/depression), but not in seven domains: hyperactivity/impulsivity, aggression, autistic symptoms or physiological symptoms, peer relationships or emotional dysregulation/irritable oppositionality.