Atomoxetine, a highly selective noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor, shows efficacy in the treatment of ADHD. Despite evidence that atomoxetine improved inhibitory control in animals and healthy volunteers, studies had yet to explore short-term cognitive effects in patients with ADHD.

The cognitive effects of a single oral dose of atomoxetine (60mg) were evaluated in n=22 adults with DSM-IV ADHD, using a within-subject placebo-controlled double-blind design. Assessment included the stop-signal test and Rapid Visual Information Processing test from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). Cardiovascular responses were monitored. Normative cognitive data from 20 healthy volunteers were collected for comparison.

Atomoxetine was associated with shorter stop-signal reaction times (p<0.05) and lower numbers of commission errors (p<0.05) on the sustained attention task in the ADHD patients.

These findings suggest that atomoxetine exerts beneficial effects on aspects of inhibitory control in ADHD, which may belie the efficacy of this medication in the treatment of impulsive features of the disorder. These findings also have potential clinical implications for other impulse dysregulation disorders such as trichotillomania and Tourette's Syndrome.