A study of more than 30,000 British adults diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, found that, on average, they were dying earlier than their counterparts in the general population — about seven years earlier. For men, about nine for women.
The study that was Posted Thursday In the British Journal of Psychiatry, it is believed to be the first to use all-cause mortality data to estimate life expectancy in people with ADHD to a range of risks associated with the condition, among them, mental health disorders, smoking and drug use.
The authors caution that ADHD is largely underdiagnosed and that the people in their study — most of whom were diagnosed as young adults — may be among those most affected. However, they described their findings as “deeply worrying”, highlighting unmet needs that “require urgent attention”.
“It’s a large number, and it’s worrying,” said Joshua Stott, professor of aging and clinical psychology at University College London and author of the study. “I see it as probably being more about health inequity than anything else. But it is big health inequity.”
The study did not identify causes of premature death among people with ADHD, but it did find that they were more likely than the general population to smoke or misuse alcohol and to have significantly higher rates of autism, self-inflicted behaviors, and personality disorders than the general population. In adulthood, Dr. Stott said, “they have difficulty managing impulses, and they have more risky behaviors.”
He said health care systems may need to adjust to better serve people with ADHD, who may experience sensory sensitivity or difficulty managing time or communicating with doctors during abbreviated appointments. He said he hopes treatments for substance abuse or depression can be adapted for patients with ADHD
“If it’s about systems, it’s flexible,” he said. “This shouldn’t be.”
Previous studies have pointed to an unusual number of premature deaths for people with ADHD. A 2022 meta-analysis in the journal Jama Pediatrics found that Deaths from unnatural causessuch as accidents or suicide, were 2.81 times higher among those diagnosed with ADHD than in the general population.
A 2019 study Actuarial tables for predicting life expectancy concluded that adults diagnosed with ADHD in childhood had an 8.4-year reduction in life expectancy compared with the general population, which the authors attributed to lower education and income, and higher rates of smoking and alcohol consumption. And reduce it sleep.
Russell Barkley, lead author of that study, said the data made clear that ADHD should not be viewed as a childhood disorder, like bedwetting, but as a lifelong problem.
“For me, the best representation is diabetes,” said Dr. Barclay, a retired professor of clinical psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. “This is a disorder you have to manage, like high blood pressure, like cholesterol and diabetes. You have to treat this for life.”
The new study studied 9,561,450 patients in national healthcare practices in Britain, of whom 30,039 were diagnosed with ADHD – each person in the ADHD group with 10 peers without the disorder for comparison purposes. Among those with ADHD, 193 male patients and 148 female patients died during the follow-up period, which lasted from 2000 to 2019.
Stephen Hinshaw, a psychology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies ADHD but was not involved in the new British research, called the study a “major discovery,” the first analysis of materials from subjects diagnosed with the disorder. He said it was unfortunate that the causes of death were not included.
“There are risk factors to work on,” he said. “That’s the main limitation of the study, because it would be really important to know, in terms of prevention, should we focus on suicide? Better diet and exercise? Depression?”
The diagnosis of ADHD has shifted in recent years, as clinicians It is concluded that many older peopleDiagnosis, especially women and people of color, is not diagnosed early in life and can benefit from treatment. While first-time diagnoses have risen among older people, the prevalence has remained consistent among children, at about 11 percent in the United States and 5 percent in Britain.
Dr. Stott said he hopes that as these demographic changes continue, health care systems will do more to identify the needs of neurological patients. In decades past, they may have been viewed dismissively by caregivers, as “the naughty kid at school,” he said.
“If you were constantly told, as a child, sit down, stop being naughty — if you talk to people with ADHD, this is their experience — stop talking, go and sit outside,” he said. “All of these things are what wears on your life, in many ways.”
