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Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry (2006)
15:329335 DOI 10.1007/s00787-006-0538-3ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONTreatment of ADHD with French maritime
pine bark extract, PycnogenolJana TrebatickaZuzana Hradec
naSona KopasovaKamil CinovskyIgor Skodacek
JaubaJana Muchova
n Sitnanova
Iweta Waczulkova
Peter Rohdewald
Zdenka D urackovaIngrid Zexamined at start of trial, 1 month
after treatment and 1 month after
end of treatment period by standard questionnaires: CAP (Child
Attention Problems) teacher rating scale, Conners Teacher Rating
Scale (CTRS), the Conners Parent
Rating Scale (CPRS) and a modified Wechsler Intelligence Scale
for children. Results show that 1-
month Pycnogenol administration caused a significant reduction
of hyperactivity, improves attention and visualmotoric coordination and concentration of
children with ADHD. In the placebo group no positive effects
were found. One month after termination of Pycnogenol administration a relapse of symptoms
was noted. Our results point to an
option to use Pycnogenol as a
natural supplement to relieve
ADHD symptoms of children.j Key words inattention
hyperactivity ADHD
PycnogenolAccepted: 27 February 2006
Published online: 13 May 2006j Abstract Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is
the most common psychiatric
disorder in children. Pycnogenol,
an extract from the bark of the
French maritime pine, consisting
of phenolic acids, catechin, taxifolin and procyanidins, has shown
improvement of ADHD in case
reports and in an open study. Aim
of the present study was to evaluate the effect of Pycnogenol on
ADHD symptoms. Sixty-one children were supplemented with1 mg/kg/day Pycnogenol or placebo over a period of 4 weeks in a
randomised, placebo-controlled,
doubleblind study. Patients wereJ. Trebaticka
(&) S. KopasovaZ. Hradec
na K. CinovskyI. S
kodacek J. Suba
Dept. of Child Psychiatry,
Child University Hospital
Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University
Limbova 1
833 40 Bratislava, SlovakiaJ. Muchova
I. Zitnanova Z. D urackovaInstitute of Medical Chemistry
Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry
Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University
Bratislava, SlovakiaI. WaczulkovaDept. of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics
Division of Biomedical PhysicsFaculty of Mathematics, Physics and
InformaticsComenius UniversityBratislava, SlovakiaP. RohdewaldInstitute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
University of Munster
MuAbbreviations: BMI: body mass index;
CAP: Child Attention Problems; CPRS: The
Conners Parent Rating Scale; CTRS: The
Conners Teacher rating Scale; ICD-10:
International Statistical Classification of
Diseases and Related Health Problems;
PDW: Prague Wechsler Intelligence Scale
for children; WISC: Wechsler Intelligence
Scale for childrennster, GermanyIntroductionAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the
most common neuropsychiatric disorder among
school-age children [8]. Children...