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European ADHD Guideline Group (EAGG)

The European ADHD Guidelines Group is a part of EUNETHYDIS set up to serve “the provision of evidence based clinical recommendations”. It therefore seeks to apply reliable scientific knowledge to help decision-makers, service users and practitioners in making well-informed judgements about how to improve the management of people affected by ADHD.

This over-riding goal involves making reviews, recommendations and guidelines, and identifying gaps in the science base. It does so, in the general spirit of EUNETHYDIS, by acting as a co-operative group of scientific and clinical disciplines, where knowledge is disseminated in an atmosphere of trust, loyalty, and mutual respect. It will maintain high ethical standards in its activities.

EAGG Members

  • Prof. Asherson, Philip (United Kingdom)

    MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP), Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London
    Contact info
    Phone:+44 (0) 20 7848 0078
    Fax:+44 (0) 20 7848 0892
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  • Prof. Banaschewski, Tobias (Germany)

    Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim
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  • Prof. Brandeis, Daniel (Germany)

    Central Institute of Mental Health
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  • Prof. Buitelaar, Jan K. (Netherlands)

    Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboudumc & Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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  • Prof. Coghill, David (Australia)

    Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Financial Markets Foundation, Chair of Developmental Mental Health, Departments of Paediatrics and Psychiatry
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  • Prof. Cortese, Samuele (United Kingdom)

    University of Southampton
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  • Daley, David (United Kingdom)

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  • Prof. Danckaerts, Marina (Belgium)

    Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, UPC KU Leuven
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  • Prof. Dr. Döpfner, Manfred (Germany)

    School of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy and Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy of Childhood and Adolescence, University Cologne
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  • Prof. Dittmann, Ralf W. (Germany)

    Central Institute of Mental Health, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
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  • Dr. Ferrin, Maite (United Kingdom)

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  • Prof. Hollis, Chris (United Kingdom)

    Division of Psychiatry & Applied Psychology, University of Nottingham & NIHR MindTech MedTech Co-Operative
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  • Prof. Holtmann, Martin (Germany)

    LWL-University Hospital for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Ruhr-University Bochum
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  • Dr. Konofal, Eric (France)

    Hospital Robert Debré Pediatric Sleep Disorders Center
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  • Lecendreux, Michel (France)

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  • Prof. Dr. Rothenberger, Aribert (Germany)

    Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medical Center Goettingen
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  • Prof. Santosh, Paramala J. (United Kingdom)

    Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London
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  • Prof. Simonoff, Emily (United Kingdom)

    Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London
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  • Prof. Sonuga-Barke, Edmund (United Kingdom)

    Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London
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  • Associate Prof. Soutullo, Cesar (Spain)

    Director, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Unit & Sub-Director, Department of Psychiatry & Medical Psychology, University of Navarra Clinic
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  • Prof. Steinhausen, Hans-Christoph (Switzerland)

    Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychiatric University Hospital
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  • Stringaris, Argyris (US)

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  • Prof. Taylor, Eric (United Kingdom)

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  • Prof. Dr. Van der Oord, Saskia (Belgium)

    Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven
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  • Wong, Ian (United Kingdom)

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  • Prof. Zuddas, Alessandro (Italy)

    Department of Neuroscience, Centre for Pharmacological Therapies in Child & Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, University of Cagliari
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Working Groups

The EAGG has currently two active working groups:

Interventions to Improve Outcomes for Children and Adolescents with ADHD – An Integrative Approach. The purpose of this work is to integrate the evidence base in relation to different types of interventions for ADHD, taking account of the limitations of study designs and quality and consistency of evidence, in order to guide clinicians in their management of ADHD.

Network Meta-Analysis of Pharmacological Interventions for ADHD. Under the lead of Dr Cortese, the EAGG has been successful in compiling the most comprehensive database of RCTs of ADHD medications across the lifespan, including published and unpublished data. Based on this dataset, a network meta-analysis on the efficacy and tolerability of ADHD medications was published in 2018 (Cortese at al., Lancet Psychiatry, 2018). The dataset will be periodically updated and analysed with the most advanced approaches of evidence synthesis. An ongoing project focuses on a network meta-analysis aimed at comparing ADHD drugs in terms of individual side effects.

Planned & Past Activities

The EAGG has undertaken a series of authoritative and influential reviews of non-pharmacological treatments for ADHD:

Covering a wide range of behavioural, psychological dietary treatments:

  • Sonuga-Barke et al., 2013

Covering treatment domain-specific follow-up analyses:

  • Stevenson et al., 2013
  • Daley et al. 2014
  • Cortese et al., 2015
  • Cortese et al 2016

The EAGG approach is distinctive in its methodological rigour and its attempts to deal systematically with the issue of outcome blinding by comparing “most proximal” (least blinded outcomes) with best “probably blinded” outcomes. Taking the best evidence the EAGG reviews found limited support for behavioural parent training, cognitive training or neuro-feedback as a treatment for core ADHD symptoms. Behavioural parent training was effective as a treatment for associated conduct problems while cognitive training and neuro-feedback appeared to improve some underlying cognitive functions. Dietary exclusions (additive colourings and flavourings) and supplements (free fatty acids) were associated with small but statistically significant benefits. Since these publications, new evidence has become available and updates of these meta-analyses are currently being planned.