NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children treated for up to 1 year with risperidone do not experience significant growth failure or delay in pubertal onset or progression, according to researchers.

In a study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Dr. Fiona Dunbar, from Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, in Titusville, New Jersey, used data from five studies including 700 children between the ages of 5 and 15 years with disruptive behavior disorders.

All of the patients had been treated with risperidone for 11 or 12 months. In addition, patients who could be evaluated for growth also had baseline and 11- or 12-month height measurements (n = 350). Females at least 9 years of age and males at least 10 years of age who could be evaluated for sexual maturation also had baseline and 11- or 12-month Tanner staging (n = 222).

The mean dose of risperidone in the growth population was 1.31 mg/day. Children treated with risperidone had a mean increase in height of 1.2 cm greater than the reference population after 12 months, according to population standards taken from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. When the growth velocity chart was used, a slightly larger mean increase (1.5 cm) was observed.

In the sexual maturation population, the mean dose of risperidone was 1.50 mg/day. "At baseline, the risperidone-treated children were a mean of 0.29 Tanner stages behind the reference population; after 12 months, they were only a mean of 0.17 stages behind," Dr. Dunbar and colleagues note. "That is, the risperidone-treated children matured slightly more rapidly than the reference population by a mean of 0.12 Tanner stages."

No correlation was found between transient increases in prolactin and growth or sexual maturation.

"The data are reassuring in that no interference with either growth or pubertal progression could be demonstrated," the authors conclude.

Am J Psychiatry 2004;161:918-920.

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