Over half of boys who have ADHD as children continue to have symptoms as adults. Only 6% of adults diagnosed with ADHD weren't diagnosed with the disorder as a child. These results come from a ten year long study of 140 boys diagnosed with ADHD between the ages of six to seventeen years old and another 140 boys not diagnosed with ADHD.
Half of the adults diagnosed with ADHD as children were diagnosed with one or more psychiatric disorder compared to 11% of the general population. Major depression affected 46% of the men in the ADHD group; 26% had bipolar disease (manic depressive disorder). This compares to 10% and 2% respectively in the control group.
Boys in the ADHD group had significantly greater rates of agoraphobia, social phobia, multiple anxiety disorder, antisocial personality disorder, drug abuse, and smoking. They also scored significantly lower on IQ tests and had poorer academic performance than those in the control group.
Whether their aggressive treatment (medications and behavorial interventions0 as a child makes a difference is not known. However, treating adults with ADHD makes a difference.
Family Practice News, 10/1/04.
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