Marcella La Cioppa According to a recent study, adults diagnosed with ADHD have lower life expectancies than healthy individuals.
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In a recent article in the British Journal of Psychiatry, researchers investigated the deficit of life expectancy in adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnosed individuals in the United Kingdom.
According to their studies, adults with a diagnosis of ADHD have a marked decrease in life expectancy, primarily because of preventable causes.
What is ADHD?
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity that has a negative effect on school, work, and social life. Initially identified as a childhood illness in 1968, ADHD persists into adulthood for roughly 90% of those who were diagnosed in childhood.
It is estimated to impact worldwide roughly 2.8% of the population. Adults with ADHD are more often in poor mental and physical health, with more cardiovascular diseases and greater sleep problems. Suicide risk is also higher among people with ADHD.
Research suggests that adults with ADHD are twice as likely to die early as the general population.
The study
This study aimed to assess the years of life lost due to ADHD using 2000-2019 mortality data.
Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study using 794 primary care clinics’ anonymous clinical records, which covered approximately 10% of the UK population.
The adults with ADHD were compared with the same-sex and age-matched individuals without ADHD, in terms of all-cause mortality.
The cohort included individuals diagnosed with ADHD with standardized codes. Their follow-up times started from the time of diagnosis or when there were valid records and ended at death, study dropout, or in 2019.
Control individuals without ADHD were matched and contrasted over the same period. The mortality rates were modeled by sex and age and life expectancy at age 18 was estimated using standard statistical methods.
The study also considered health status, socio-economic status, and possibly life-threatening accidents to ensure comprehensive data. Patients with ADHD had greater health issues such as anxiety, depression, and self-harm.
Results
The study tested 9.56 million individuals and identified 30,039 individuals (0.32% of the population) diagnosed with ADHD, significantly lower than survey-based estimates (2.8%).
The cohort included 23,377 men and 6,662 women with ADHD, versus 300,390 non-ADHD controls. Most of the ADHD diagnoses were between 1999 and 2009, the median age at diagnosis being slightly less than 19 years in the men and slightly more than 22 years in the women.
There were higher health conditions present in ADHD-diagnosed individuals compared to those who were not diagnosed with ADHD. Mortality rates were higher for both men (0.83%) and women (2.22%) with ADHD compared to non-ADHD men (0.52%) and women (1.35%).
Men with ADHD had a 1.89 greater chance of dying during the follow-up period, and women had a 2.13 greater chance.
Life expectancy estimates indicated that ADHD males had lived 6.78 years less (73.26 years), and females had lived 8.64 years less (75.15 years) than their controls.
These findings reinforce the connection between ADHD and enhanced mortality risk, and it is with the acknowledgment of this that medical interventions must be specifically tailored.
This study reports the first estimation of the potential impact of ADHD on UK adult life expectancy, and there was a reduction of around 7 years for men and 9 years for women compared to the non-ADHD group.
Source: Cambridge University Press
