As if ADHD isn’t bad enough: New research this week suggests that people with ADHD live shorter lives than expected.
Scientists at University College London in the United Kingdom conducted the study, which compared the health records of similar people with and without ADHD. They found that people with ADHD tended to be sicker and die faster than their counterparts. Researchers say the findings suggest that people with the condition often don’t get the support they need.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder It is a complex disorder characterized by symptoms such as restlessness, impulsivity, and difficulty concentrating, especially on daily tasks. This condition is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, such as exposure to lead or other toxins early in life. ADHD tends to first appear in childhood, but many people are only diagnosed as adults or not at all. Although the condition does not usually go away with age, a person’s symptoms can change as they get older.
It is known that people with ADHD are more likely to have other health problems, such as the disease Enough good sleep and Use of the substance problems; They are also more likely to experience stressful life events such as prolonged unemployment. There have been some studies Also suggested Those who suffer from ADHD are more likely to die early than the general population. However, the scientists behind the new research say not enough prior work has been done to determine the impact of ADHD on people’s life expectancy.
Hence the new study. The researchers analyzed primary care data from nearly 30,000 adult UK residents who had been diagnosed with ADHD. These people were compared to a larger population of people who did not have ADHD but were similar in age, gender, and the doctors they visited.
The researchers found that people with ADHD were more likely to have a variety of other common physical and mental health conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, and depression. They also had higher mortality rates across age groups, which was seen in both men and women. Overall, the researchers estimated that an ADHD diagnosis was associated with a reduced life expectancy of 6.78 years for men and 8.64 years for women.
“The evidence that people with ADHD live shorter lives than they should be is extremely worrying and highlights unmet support needs that require urgent attention,” the scientists wrote in their paper. published Thursday in British Journal of Psychiatry.
The researchers note that they were only able to study people diagnosed with ADHD, which is likely an undercount. Only about 0.32% of people in the sample were diagnosed with ADHD, while other research suggests that approximately 3% of the population has the condition. People diagnosed with ADHD may be more likely to develop other health problems than undiagnosed cases, researchers say. This gap may mean that they overestimate the impact that ADHD in general has on people’s life expectancy. The researchers also lacked data on the specific causes of people’s deaths, so this study can’t tell us exactly how ADHD increases the risk of premature death in people.
However, it is clear that people with ADHD face unique health and social challenges, and that not enough is being done to diagnose and help people with ADHD as early as possible, the authors say.
“It is important that we discover the underlying causes of premature deaths so that we can develop strategies to prevent them from occurring in the future,” lead researcher Liz Onions said in a report. statement From the University of California.