Food for Thought--People With A.D.H.D. Are Likely to Die Significantly Earlier Than Their Peers, Study Finds

Article Link: A study of more than 30,000 British adults diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or A.D.H.D., found that, on average, they were dying earlier than their counterparts in the general population — around seven years earlier for men, and around nine for women.  The study, which was published Thursday in The British Journal of Psychiatry, is believed to be the first to use all-cause mortality data to estimate life expectancy in people with A.D.H.D. Previous studies have pointed to an array of risks associated with the condition, among them poverty, mental health disorders, smoking and substance abuse. The authors cautioned that A.D.H.D. is substantially underdiagnosed and that the people in their study — most of them diagnosed as young adults — might be among the more severely affected. Still, they described their findings as “extremely concerning,” highlighting unmet needs that “require urgent attention.”  (cut)  Diagnosis of A.D.H.D. has shifted in recent years, as clinicians concluded that many older people, especially women and people of color, had gone undiagnosed early in life and could benefit from treatment. As first-time diagnoses surged among older people, prevalence has remained consistent among children, at around 11 percent in the United States and 5 percent in Britain.  Dr. Stott said he hoped that, as these demographic changes took hold, health care systems would make more effort to identify the needs of neurodivergent patients. In past decades, he said, they may have been viewed dismissively by caregivers, as “the naughty kid at school.”  “If you’re constantly told, as a kid, sit down, stop being so naughty — if you talk to people with A.D.H.D., that is their experience — stop talking, go and sit outside,” he said. “It’s all of these things that wear down at your life chances, in many ways.”