Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T16:38:07.524Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and hyperkinetic disorder are well-established diagnoses in children, with estimates of prevalence in pre-adolescent children from 3 to 5%. Until recently ADHD was not thought to persist beyond adolescence, but results from long-term prospective outcome studies indicate that 30–70% of children with ADHD exhibit some symptoms as adults. Recognition of this disorder is important as the persistence of ADHD symptoms has been shown to be associated with academic and occupational failure and high rates of psychiatric comorbidity. With the establishment of a UK support group (LADDER) and increasing media attention highlighting this problem it is likely that there will be an increased demand for psychiatric assessment of adult ADHD in the next few years.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 1999 

References

American Psychiatric Association (1994) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn) (DSM–IV). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Biederman, J., Faraone, S. V., Keenan, K. et al (1990) Family-genetic and psychosocial risk factors in DSM–III attention deficit disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29, 526533.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Biederman, J., Faraone, S. V., Keenan, K. et al (1992) Further evidence for family-genetic risk factors in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); patterns of comorbidity in probands and relatives in psychiatrically and paediatrically referred samples. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 728738.Google Scholar
Cairnes, E. & Cammock, T. (1978) Development of a more reliable version of the Matching Familiar Figures Test. Developmental Psychology, 14, 555560.Google Scholar
Castellanos, F. X., Giedd, J. N., Eckburg, P. et al (1994) Quantitative morphology of the caudate nucleus in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 17911796.Google Scholar
Conners, C. K. (1973) Rating scales for use in drug studies with children. Psychopharmacology Bulletin (special issue on pharmacotherapy of children), 2429.Google Scholar
Erlenmeyer-Kimling, L. & Cornblatt, B. (1978) Attentional Measures in a study of children at high-risk for schizophrenia. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 14, 9398.Google Scholar
Feingold, B. (1975) Why Your Child is Hyperactive. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Giedd, J. N., Castellanos, F. X., Casey, B. J. et al (1994) Quantitative morphology of the corpus callosum in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 665669.Google ScholarPubMed
Gittelman, R., Mannuzza, S., Shenker, R. et al (1985) Hyperactive boys almost grown up. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42, 937947.Google Scholar
Goodman, R. & Stevenson, J. (1989) A twin study of hyperactivity. I: An examination of hyperactivity scores and categories derived from the Rutter teacher and parent questionnaires. II: The aetiological role of genes, family relationships and perinatal adversity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30, 671709.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hynd, G. W., Semrud-Clikeman, M., Lorys, A. R. et al (1991) Corpus callosum morphology in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): morphometric analysis of MRI. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 24, 141146.Google Scholar
Hynd, G. W., Hern, K. L., Novey, E. S. et al (1993) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and asymmetry of the caudate nucleus. Journal of Child Neurology, 8, 339347.Google Scholar
Lou, H. C., Henriksen, L. & Bruhn, P. (1984) Focal cerebral hypoperfusion in children with dysphasia and/or attention deficit disorder. Archives of Neurology, 41, 825829.Google Scholar
Lou, H. C., Henriksen, L. & Bruhn, P. et al (1989) Striatal dysfunction in attention deficit and hyperkinetic disorder. Archives of Neurology, 46, 4852.Google Scholar
Mannuzza, S., Klein, R. G., Bessler, A. et al (1993) Adult outcome of hyperactive boys. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50, 565576.Google Scholar
Mattes, J. A., Boswell, L. & Oliver, H. (1984) Methylphenidate effects on symptoms of attention deficit disorder in adults. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 10591063.Google Scholar
Silva, P. A., Hughes, P., Williams, S. et al (1988) Blood, lead, intelligence, reading attainment, and behaviour in eleven-year-old children in Dunedin, New Zealand. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 29, 4352.Google Scholar
Smith, L. (1975) Your Child's Behaviour Chemistry. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Spencer, T., Wilens, T., Biederman, J. et al (1995) Double-blind crossover trial of methylphenidate and placebo in adults with childhood onset attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 52, 434443.Google Scholar
Still, G. F. (1902) Some abnormal physical conditions in children. Lancet, i, 10081012, 1077–1082, 1163–1168.Google Scholar
Weiss, G., Hechtman, L., Milroy, T. et al (1985) Psychiatric status of hyperactives as adults: a controlled prospective 15-year follow-up of 63 hyperactive children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 24, 211220.Google Scholar
Wender, P. H., Reimherr, F. W. & Wood, D. R. (1981) Attention deficit disorder(‘minimal brain dysfunction’) in adults; a replication study of diagnosis and drug treatment. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 449456.Google Scholar
Wender, P. H., Wood, D. R., Reimherr, F. W. et al (1983) An open trial of pargyline in the treatment of attention deficit disorder, residual type. Psychiatry Research, 9, 329336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wood, D. R., Reimherr, F. W., Wender, P. H. et al (1976) Diagnosis and treatment of minimal brain dysfunction in adults: a preliminary report. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 14531460.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wood, D. R., Reimherr, F. W. & Wender, P. H. (1983) The use of 1-deprenyl in the treatment of attention deficit disorder, residual type. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 19, 627629.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1992) The Tenth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD–10). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Zametkin, A. J., Nordahl, T. E., Gross, M. et al (1990) Cerebral glucose metabolism in adults with hyperactivity of childhood onset. New England Journal of Medicine, 323, 13611366.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.