Chapter 2
Results Nine of 40 children (23%) who started the trial withdrew prematurely from the study: 3 children withdrew before the start of the trial because their parents lacked the motivation to start a diet; 3 children withdrew in course of the study due to illness of the child or lack of motivation of the child; and 3 children left the trial during the elimination diet period. Thirty-one children completed the study. Teacher data were available of 15/31 children, teacher data were missing due to holidays or because the child was younger than 4 years old.
ADHD symptoms The parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (n = 31; table 2) and teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (n = 15; table 3) ACS and ARS scores were significantly lower at measurement point 3 (end of elimination diet period) when compared to measurement point 2 (end of baseline period). The improvements concerned both inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms. At the end of the study 4/31 children still met the criteria for ADHD (p<0.0001). According to the parent measurements 25 children belonged to the responders, i.e. 62% of all 40 children and 81% of 31 children who completed the study. Fifteen of 40 children (38%) belonged to the nonresponders: 9/40 were dropouts and 6/40 completed the diet but did not respond favourably. According to the teacher data 10/15 children were responders at home as well as at school; 1/15 child responded at home but not at school, 4/15 children were nonresponders both at home and at school.
ODD symptoms A significant decrease of ODD symptoms was observed at the end of the elimination diet (see table 2). At the start of the trial 26/31 children met the ODD criteria and 2/26 children still met the ODD criteria at the end of the diet (p<0.0001): 21/26 were responders (81%), showing behavioural improvements of at least 50%.
Physical complaints At the start of the trial 20/31 children suffered from 3 or more physical complaints, such as stomach-ache, headache, unusual thirst and/or excessive perspiration, diarrhoea, eczema or asthma. At the end of the elimination diet all 20 children showed a significant decrease in physical complaints (table 4). In 13 children,
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