The following is a summary of “Risk factors associated with newly diagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults: a retrospective case-control study,” published in the November 2023 issue of Psychiatry by Schein et al.

Identifying risk factors for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults could aid in earlier diagnosis, but research on this topic is limited.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to identify risk factors associated with newly diagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among adults in the United States (US).

They categorized eligible adults from the IQVIA PharMetrics® Plus database (10/01/2015-09/30/2021) into the ADHD cohort if they had ≥ 2 ADHD diagnoses (index date: first ADHD diagnosis) and into the non-ADHD cohort if they had no observed ADHD diagnosis (index date: random date) with a 1:3 case-to-control ratio. During the 12-month baseline, risk factors were accessed for newly diagnosed ADHD using logistic regression with stepwise variable selection to identify statistically significant associations. The collective impact of chosen risk factors was explored through standard patient profiles.

The results showed 337,034 patients in the ADHD cohort (mean age 35.2 years; 54.5% female) and 1,011,102 in the non-ADHD cohort (mean age 44.0 years; 52.4% female). Anxiety and depressive disorders were more common in the ADHD group compared to the non-ADHD group. A higher percentage of ADHD cohort patients received antianxiety agents (20.6% and 8.3%) and antidepressants (40.9% and 15.8%). Significant risk factors for increased ADHD probability included the number of mental health comorbidities ( OR for 1 comorbidity: 1.41; ≥2 comorbidities: 1.45), specific mental health comorbidities (e.g, feeding and eating disorders [OR: 1.88], bipolar disorders [OR: 1.50], depressive disorders [OR: 1.37], trauma- and stressor-related disorders [OR: 1.27], anxiety disorders [OR: 1.24]), use of antidepressants (OR: 1.87) and antianxiety agents (OR: 1.40), and having ≥ 1 psychotherapy visit (OR: 1.70), ≥ 1 specialist visit (OR: 1.30), and ≥ 10 outpatient visits (OR: 1.51) (all P< 0.05). The predicted risk of ADHD for patients with treated anxiety and depressive disorders was 81.9%.

They concluded that mental health comorbidities and related treatments are strongly associated with new adult ADHD diagnoses, suggesting that early screening and intervention may be beneficial.

Source: bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-023-05359-7