Efficacy of ear acupuncture on attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder in 7-14 years old children

  Attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders. This study was conducted to determine the effect of ear acupuncture on ADHD symptoms in children aged 7-14. This quasi-experimental study was performed on 30 children with ADHD whom did not receive Ritalin, whom referred to the private psychiatric clinic of children in Tehran. A questinare child syndrome inventory (parental form) and integrated visual and auditory (IVA) test with a pre-test and post-test design was used in this study. The ear acupuncture treatment for 8 weeks with uniform pressure on the ear seed was applied on five points of the ear, including brain, excitement, prefrontal cortex, shen men and tranquilizar. The auditory vigilance subscale from the attention area and the auditory prudence subscale of the auditory response from the inhibition area in the pre-test phase in compared to the post-test were statistically significant (P<0.05). The 8-week acupuncture on the ear improves the auditory vigilance subscale and the auditory prudence subscale in children with ADHD.