FDA Approves ADHD Diagnostic Device

By Holly Lebowitz Rossi

A brainwave-measuring device that could help diagnose kids with ADHD has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The device's creators earned the approval after conducting research showing that a 20-minute test on the device, when combined with standard ADHD diagnostic measures, increased the accuracy of doctors' diagnoses. More on how the device works from the website PopSci.com:

The device detects two different types of brainwaves, theta and beta, and how frequently they occur. Kids with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have more theta than beta brainwaves, compared to kids without ADHD.
The FDA approved the device, called the Neuropsychiatric Electroencephalogram-Based Assessment Aid or NEBA, for use with a full medical exam. In a statement, the director of the agency's Office of Device Evaluation, Christy Foreman, emphasized that the device has to work with other clinical measures.
To get their FDA approval, NEBA's creators performed a study with 275 kids with attention problems. The study, which the FDA didn't make public, found that adding a 20-minute NEBA test to standard diagnostic procedures helped doctors diagnose ADHD more accurately.