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A group of 13 prepubertal children fitting unmodified Research Diagnostic Criteria for major depressive disorder in adults was identified. The clinical characteristics of the group are described as well as the results of an open trial of imipramine. Pilot data from this study point to the possibility that adult and prepubertal major depressive disorders are basically the same illness occurring at different points in development.

A prospective study of growth was undertaken in two groups of hyperkinetic children: a d-amphetamine-treated (index) group and a phenothiazine-treated (control) group. This study was coupled with longitudinal overnight sleep-endocrine assessments in the index group. At the end of the first year seven index subjects have been studied for growth and sleep-endocrine measures and eight control subjects have been studied for growth changes only. The significant findings are: (1) growth retardation in the index group; (2) inhibition of mean sleep-related prolactin secretion; (3) a highly significant correlation between loss of expected height percentile during the first year and decrease of mean sleep related prolactin at 6 months, as compared to baseline. These findings suggest that growth inhibition secondary to chronic d-amphetamine administration in hyperkinetic children might be mediated by inhibition of prolactin secretion.

Growth patterns in eight previously unmedicated hyperactive boys were assessed monthly for 1 year while they showed behavioral improvement on a mean methylphenidate dose level of 1.3 mg/kg/day. The group lost 13 weight percentile points and 3 height percentile points. Although weight velocity fell significantly ( p

Growth patterns in previously unmedicated hyperactive boys were assessed monthly for 1 year or more while they received treatment with d-amphetamine (N = 13) or phenothiazines (N = 8). The d-amphetamine group, who sustained their behavior improvement throughout the study, underwent sleep and endocrine studies before and after 6 months on drug therapy. By 1 year, the phenothiazine group had achieved a 7-point increase in weight percentile and a 4-percentile gain in height, but the d-amphetamine group had lost 16 percentile points in weight and 10 percentile points in height. Height and weight velocities had fallen significantly (p