To What Extent Does ADHD Affect Sleep in Adults, and In What Ways?

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on June 6, 2018

We are only beginning to explore how ADHD affects sleep in adults. A team of European researchers recently published the first meta-analysis on the subject, drawing on thirteen studies with 1,439 participants. They examined both subjective evaluations from sleep questionnaires and objective measurements from actigraphy and polysomnography. However, due to differences among the studies, only two to seven could be combined for any single topic, generally with considerably fewer participants (88 to 873).

Several patterns emerged. Looking at results from sleep questionnaires, they found that adults with ADHD were far more likely to report general sleep problems (very large SMD effect size 1.55). Getting more specific, they were also more likely to report frequent night awakenings (medium effect size 0.56), taking longer to get to sleep (medium-to-large effect size 0.67), lower sleep quality (medium-to-large effect size 0.69), lower sleep efficiency (medium effect size 0.55), and feeling sleepy during the daytime (large effect size 0.75). There was little to no sign of publication bias, though considerable heterogeneity on all but night awakenings and sleep quality.

Actigraphy readings confirmed some of the subjective reports. On average, adults with ADHD took longer to get to sleep (large effect size 0.80) and had lower sleep efficiency (medium-to-large effect size 0.68). They also spent more time awake (small-to-medium effect size 0.40). There was little to no sign of publication bias and there was little heterogeneity among studies.

None of the polysomnographic measurements, however, found any significant differences between adults with and without ADHD. All effect sizes were small (under 0.20), and none came close to being statistically significant.

There were four instances where measurement criteria overlapped those from actigraphy and self-reporting, with varying degrees of agreement and divergence. There was no significant difference in total sleep time, matching findings from both the questionnaires and actigraphy. On percent time spent awake, polysomnography found little to no effect size with no statistical significance, whereas actigraphy found a small-to-medium effect size that did not quite reach significance, and self-reporting came up with a medium effect size that was statistically significant. On sleep onset latency and sleep efficiency, for which questionnaires and actigraphy found medium-to-large effects, the polysomnographic measurements found little to none, with no statistical significance.

Polysomnography found no significant differences in stage 1 sleep, stage 2 sleep, slow wave sleep, and REM sleep. With the exception of slow wave sleep, there was no sign of publication bias. Heterogeneity was generally minimal.

One problem with the extant literature is that many studies did not take medication status into account. In fact, the authors concluded, “future studies should be conducted in medication naïve samples of adults with and without ADHD matched for comorbid psychiatric disorders and other relevant demographic variables.”

In summary, these findings provide robust evidence that ADHD adults report a variety of sleep problems. In contrast, objective demonstrations of sleep abnormalities have not been consistently demonstrated. More work in medication naïve samples is needed to confirm these conclusions.

REFERENCES
Amparo Díaz-Román, Raziya Mitchell, Samuele Cortese, “Sleep in adults with ADHD: Systematic review and meta-analysis of subjective and objective studies,” Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, vol. 89, p. 61-71 (2018).

Is ADHD a Serious Condition?

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on June 2, 2017

In the popular media, ADHD is sometimes portrayed as a minor condition or not a disorder at all.   In fact, it is easy to find web sites claiming that ADHD is an invention of the medical profession and that the symptoms used to diagnose the disorder are simply normal behaviors that have been “medicalized”.   These claims are wrong.  They miss the main point of any psychiatric diagnostic process which is to identify people who experience distress or disability due to a set of well-defined symptoms.  So, does ADHD cause serious distress and disability?   It is a serious psychiatric condition?  To illustrate the strong evidence base for the “Yes” answer to that question, my colleagues and I constructed this infographic for our “Primer” about ADHD, http://rdcu.be/gYyV.   It describes the many ways in which the symptoms of ADHD impact and impair the lives of children, adolescents and adults with the disorder.  We divided these ‘impacts’ into four categories: other disorders (both psychiatric and medical), psychological dysfunction, academic and occupational failure, social disability and risky behaviors.  Let’s start with other health problems.  We know from many studies that have followed ADHD children into adolescence and adulthood that having the disorder puts patients at risk for several psychiatric disorders, addictions, criminality, learning disabilities and speech/language disorders. ADHD even increases the risk for non-psychiatric disease such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes.  Perhaps most worrisome is that people with ADHD have a small increased risk for premature death.  This increased risk is due in part to their having other psychiatric and medical conditions and also to their risky behaviors which, as research documents, lead to accidents and traumatic brain injuries.   In the category of ‘psychological dysfunction’ we highlighted emotional dysregulation, which makes ADHD people quick to anger or to fail to tame extreme emotions.  Other serious psychological issues are low self-esteem and increased thoughts of suicide, which lead to more suicide attempts than for people without ADHD.  This increased risk for suicide is small, but it is real.    A more prevalent impact of ADHD is the broad category of social disability, which includes marital discord, poor parenting, legal problems, arrests and incarceration.   This typical starts in youth with poor social adjustment and conflict with parents, siblings and friends.  Another common impact of ADHD is on academic and vocational pursuits.  ADHD youth are at risk for underachievement in school, repeating grades and dropping out.  As adults, they are more likely to unemployed or underemployed, which leads to them having lower incomes than expected for their level of achievement in school.   So, don’t believe anyone who claims that ADHD is not a disorder or is only a mild one.   To be sure, there is a wide range of impairment among people with ADHD but, in the absence of treatment, they are at risk for adverse outcomes.  Fortunately, the medications that treat ADHD have been documented to reduce this risk, which is why they are typically the first line treatment for most people with ADHD.

REFERENCE

Faraone, S. V. et al. (2015) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder Nat. Rev. Dis. Primers doi:10.1038/nrdp.2015.20 ;  http://rdcu.be/gYyV

A Brief History of ADHD

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on March 13, 2017

I have too often seen on the Internet or media the statement that ADHD is a recent invention of psychiatrists and/or pharmaceutical companies.  Such statements ignore the long history of ADHD that my colleague and I reviewed in our “Primer” about ADHD, http://rdcu.be/gYyV.

  As you can see from The Figure, ADHD has a long history.  The first ADHD syndrome was described in a German medical textbook by Weikard in 1775.  That’s not a typo.  The ADHD syndrome had been identified before the birth of the USA. Dr. Weikard did not use the term ADD or ADHD, yet he described a syndrome of hyperactivity and inattention that corresponds to what we call ADHD today.  As you can see from the Figure, ADHD-like syndromes were described in Scotland in 1798 and in France in the late 19th century.  The first description of an ADHD-like syndrome in a medical journal was by Dr. George Still in 1901 who described what he called a ‘defect of moral control” in The Lancet.  The discovery that stimulant drugs are effective in treating ADHD occurred in 1937 when Dr. Charles Bradley discovered that Benzedrine (an amphetamine compound) improved the behavior of children diagnosed with behavioral disorders.  In subsequent years, several terms were used to describe children with ADHD symptoms.  

  Examples are Kramer-Pollnow syndrome, minimal brain damage, minimal brain dysfunction and hyperkinetic reaction.  It was not until the 1980s that the term Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) came into widespread use with the publication of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).   During the ensuing decades, several changes were made to the diagnostic criteria and the term ADD was replaced with ADHD so as not to overemphasize either inattention of hyperactivity when diagnosing the disorder.  And, as the graphic below describes, these new and better diagnostic criteria led to many breakthroughs in our understanding of the nature of the disorder and the efficacy of treatments.   So, if you think that ADHD is an invention of contemporary society, think again.  It has been with us for quite some time.

REFERENCE

Faraone, S. V. et al. (2015) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder Nat. Rev. Dis. Primers doi:10.1038/nrdp.2015.20 ;  http://rdcu.be/gYyV

Overview of the ADHD Brain

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on March 6, 2017

Eight Pictures Describe Brain Mechanisms in ADHD

When my colleagues and I wrote our “Primer” about ADHD, http://rdcu.be/gYyV, the topic of brain mechanisms was a top priority.   Because so much has been written about the ADHD brain, it is difficult to summarize.   Yet we did it with the eight pictures reproduce here in one Figure.   A quick overview of this Figure shows you the complexity of ADHD’s pathophysiology.  There is no single brain region or neural circuit that is affected.   Figures (a) and (b) show you the main regions implicated by structural and functional neuroimaging studies.  As (c) shows, these regions are united by neural networks rich in noradrenalin (aka, norepinephrine) and dopamine, two neurotransmitters whose activity is regulated by medications that treat ADHD.  Figure (d) describes two functional networks.   The Executive Control network is, perhaps, the best described network in ADHD.  This network regulates behavior by linking dorsal striatum with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.  This network is essential for inhibitory control, self-regulation, working memory and attention.  The Corticocerebellar network is a well-known regulator of complex motor skills.  Data also suggest it play a role in the regulation of cognitive functions.   Figure (d) describes the Reward Networks of the brain that link ventral striatum with prefrontal cortex.   This network regulates how we experience and value rewards and punishments.   In addition to its involvement in ADHD, this network has also been implicated in substance use disorders, for which ADHD persons are at high risk. Figures (f) (g) and (h) complete the puzzle with additional regions implicated in ADHD whose role is less well understood.  One role for these regions is in the regulation of the Default Mode Network, which controls what the brain does when it is not focused on any specific task (e.g., daydreaming, mind wandering).  People differ in the degree to which they shift between the default mode network and networks like Reward or Executive Control, which are active when we engage the world.  Recent data suggest that the brains of ADHD people may be in ‘default mode’ when they ought to be engaged in the world.    

REFERENCE

Faraone, S. V. et al. (2015) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder Nat. Rev. Dis. Primers doi:10.1038/nrdp.2015.20 ;  http://rdcu.be/gYyV

What is Evidence Based Medicine?

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on December 15, 2016

With the growth of the Internet, we are flooded with information about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder from many sources, most of which aim to provide useful and compelling “facts” about the disorder. But, for the cautious reader, separating fact from opinion can be difficult when writers have not spelled out how they have come to decide that the information they present is factual.

My blogs several guidelines to reassure readers that the information they read about ADHD is up-to-date and dependable. They are as follows:
Nearly all the information presented is based on peer-reviewed publications in the scientific literature about ADHD. “Peer-reviewed” means that other scientists read the article and made suggestions for changes and approved that it was of sufficient quality for publication. I say “nearly all” because in some cases I’ve used books or other information published by colleagues who have a reputation for high quality science.

When expressing certainty about putative facts, I am guided by the principles of evidenced based medicine, which recognizes that the degree to which we can be certain about the truth of scientific statements depends on several features of the scientific papers used to justify the statements such as the number of studies available and the quality of the individual studies. For example, compare these two types of studies. One study gives drug X to 10 ADHD patients and reports that 7 improved. Another gave drug Y to 100 patients and a placebo to 100 other patients and used statistics to show that the rate of improvement was significantly greater in the drug treated group. The second study is much better and much larger, so we should be more confident in its conclusions. The rules of evidence are fairly complex and can be viewed at the Oxford Center for Evidenced Based Medicine (OCEBM; http://www.cebm.net/).

The evidenced-based approach incorporates two types of information: a) the quality of the evidence and b) the magnitude of the treatment effect. The OCEBM levels of evidence quality are defined as follows (higher numbers are better:

  1. Mechanism based reasoning.   For example, some data suggest that oxidative stress leads to ADHD and we know that omega-3 fatty acids reduce oxidative stress.  So there is a reasonable mechanism whereby omega-3 therapy might help ADHD people.
  2. Studies of one or a few people without a control group or studies that compare treated patients to those that were not treated in the past.
  3. Non-randomized, controlled studies.    In these studies the treatment group is compared to a group that receives a placebo treatment, which is a fake treatment not expected to work.   Non-randomized means that the comparison might be confounded by having placed different types of patients in the treatment and control groups.
  4. Single randomized trial.   This type of study is not confounded.
  5. Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials.  This means that many randomized trials have been completed and someone has combined them to reach a more accurate conclusion.

It is possible to have high quality evidence proving that a treatment ‘works’ but the treatment might not work very well.  So it is important to consider the magnitude of the treatment effect, also called the “effect size” by statisticians.  For ADHD, it is easiest to think about ranking treatments on a ten point scale.   The stimulant medications have a quality rating of 5 and also have the strongest magnitude of effect, about 9 or 10.  Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation ‘works’ with a quality rating of 5, but the score for magnitude of effect is only 2 so it doesn’t work very well.  We have to take into account patient or parent preferences, comorbid conditions, prior response to treatment and other issues when choosing a treatment for a specific patient, but we can only use an evidenced-based approach when deciding which treatments are well supported as helpful for a disorder.

Other Myths About ADHD

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on December 8, 2016

Myth: ADHD is an American disorder.
Those who claim ADHD is an American disorder believe that ADHD is due to the pressures of living in a fast paced, competitive American society. Some argue that if we lived in a simpler world, ADHD would not exist.
Fact: ADHD occurs throughout the world.
Wherever scientists have searched for ADHD, they have found it. They have done this by going to different countries, speaking to people in the community to diagnose them with or without ADHD. These studies show that ADHD occurs throughout the world and that the percent of people having ADHD does not differ between the United States and the rest of the world. Examples of where ADHD has been found include: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, The Netherlands, and Ukraine. ADHD is not an American disorder.

Myth: A child who sits still to watch TV or play video games cannot have ADHD.
Many parents are puzzled that their child can sit still to watch TV or to play video games for hours but that same child cannot sit still for dinner or stay at their desk for long to do homework. Are these children faking ADHD symptoms to get out of homework?
Fact: ADHD does not necessarily interfere with playing video games or watching TV.
Because children cannot turn their ADHD on and off to suit their needs, it does seem odd that a child who is typically hyperactive and inattentive can sit for hours playing a video game. But this ability of ADHD children fits in very well with scientific facts about ADHD. First, you probably understand the effects of rewards and punishment on behavior. If your behavior is rewarded, you are likely to do it again. If it is punished, you will avoid that behavior in the future. Rewards that have the strongest effect on our behavior are large and will occur soon. For example, consider these two choices:
-if you listen to a boring one hour lecture, I will pay you $100 immediately after the lecture
-if you listen to a boring one hour lecture, I will pay you $110 one year after the lecture
Choice (a) is more appealing that choice (b). Most people will not think it is worthwhile to wait one year for $10. We say they have ‘discounted’ the $10 to 0$.
Now consider the choices:
-if you listen to a boring one hour lecture, I will pay you $100 immediately after the lecture
-if you listen to a boring one hour lecture, I will pay you $2,000 one year after the lecture
Choice (d) is more appealing that choice (c). Most people will wait one year for $2,000. It is obvious here is that if I want the best chance of having you watch a lecture, I should offer you a large sum of money immediately after the lecture. What is not so obvious is that people vary a great deal in the degree to which they are affected by rewards that are either small or distant in the future. For some people, getting $2,000 in one year is almost like getting nothing at all. We say that such people are not sensitive to distant rewards.
What does this have to do with ADHD and video games? Well people with ADHD are usually not very sensitive to weak or distant rewards. To affect the behavior on a person with ADHD, the reward needs to be immediate and fairly large. When a child with ADHD sits down to do homework, the potential reward is getting a good grade on their report card, but they won’t receive that grade for weeks or months, so it is very distant. Thus, it is not surprising that the possibility of that reward cannot control the child’s behavior. In contrast, video games are created so that players are rewarded very frequently by winning points or completing one of the many levels one must pass to finally complete the game. Because playing well is also rewarded by friends, the video game rewards are strong and immediate, which makes it easy for people with ADHD to sit still and play for long periods of time.

Myth: ADHD disappears in adulthood.
Until the 1990s, it was commonly believed that children grew out of ADHD. The reason for this is not clear. Some theories about ADHD suggested that ADHD children had a lag in brain development and that they would make up that lag during adolescence. So ADHD was seen as a delay in brain development that could be overcome. In fact, the idea that children routinely recovered from ADHD was so strong that many insurance companies would not pay for the ADHD treatment of adults.
Fact: In the majority of cases, ADHD persists into adulthood.
This myth about ADHD has been proven wrong by studies that diagnosed ADHD in children and then examined them many years later as adults. These studies showed that, although there was some recovery from ADHD, about two-thirds of cases persisted into adulthood. The studies also taught us that ADHD symptoms tend to change with age. The extreme and disruptive hyperactivity of many ADHD children gets somewhat better by adulthood as do some symptoms of impulsivity. In contrast, inattentive symptoms do not decrease much with age.

Myth: People with ADHD cannot do well in school or succeed in life.
This myth is based on several facts: 1) ADHD affects many aspects of life; 2) ADHD impairs thinking and behavior and 3) for most people, ADHD is a lifelong disorder. Altogether, doesn’t this mean that people with ADHD won’t succeed in life?
Fact: People with ADHD can succeed and live productive lives.
There are two reasons why people with ADHD can succeed in life. The first is obvious. Although treatments for ADHD are not perfect, they can eliminate many of the obstacles that would otherwise make it difficult for ADHD patients to do well in school or on the job. But, more importantly, having ADHD is only one of many facts about a person’s life. Some ADHD people have other skills or traits that help them compensate for their ADHD. For example, if you have a high level of intelligence, an engaging personality or excellent athletic skills, you can do well despite having ADHD. Consider Michael Phelps, who broke so many Olympic swimming records. He was diagnosed with ADHD at age 9 and took Ritalin to help his hyperactivity. James Carville has ADHD, but he completed law school and helped Bill Clinton become president of the United States. Cammi Granato’s ADHD did not stop her from becoming captain of the United States Olympic ice hockey team and Ty Pennington’s ADHD did not stop him from becoming a star on TV.

Myth: ADHD does not affect highly intelligent people
The mistake behind this myth is that it assumes that being very intelligent protects people from having ADHD. It’s true that if you are highly intelligent, you can use that intelligence to compensate for some of ADHD’s effects, but does high intelligence completely protect a person from ADHD?
Fact: People with ADHD can succeed and live productive lives.
When my colleagues and I studied this question, we found clear evidence that high intelligence does not completely protect people from ADHD. Like people who don’t have ADHD, having high intelligence will help ADHD people do better than ADHD people who are not a smart. But when we compared highly intelligent ADHD people with highly intelligent non-ADHD people we found that the highly intelligent ADHD people had many of the impairing problems that are know to be associate with ADHD. For details about these problems, see Complications of ADHD. In another study, we compared ADHD adults who had received straight A grades in high school, with non-ADHD people who had achieved the same grades. Despite their good grades, these ADHD adults were not doing as well in their jobs and not earning as much income as the non-ADHD adults. And ADHD also has an impact at every level of education. As you can see from the figure, even for people with college degrees, having ADHD lowers your chances for being employed.
 

REFERENCES
Faraone, S. V., Sergeant, J., Gillberg, C. & Biederman, J. (2003). The Worldwide Prevalence of ADHD: Is it an American Condition? World Psychiatry 2, 104-113.

Polanczyk, G., de Lima, M. S., Horta, B. L., Biederman, J. & Rohde, L. A. (2007). The Worldwide Prevalence of ADHD: A Systematic Review and Metaregression Analysis. Am J Psychiatry 164, 942-8.

Scheres, A., Lee, A. & Sumiya, M. (2008). Temporal reward discounting and ADHD: task and symptom specific effects. J Neural Transm 115, 221-6.

Faraone, S., Biederman, J. & Mick, E. (2006). The Age Dependent Decline Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Meta-Analysis Of Follow-Up Studies. Psychological Medicine 36, 159-165.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Fact vs. Fiction

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on November 24, 2016

Many myths have been manufactured about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).  Facts that are clear and compelling to most scientists and doctors have been distorted or discarded from popular media discussions of the disorder.   Sometimes, the popular media seems motivated by the maxim “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.”  That’s fine for storytellers, but it is not acceptable for serious and useful discussions about ADHD.

Myths about ADHD are easy to find.  These myths have confused patients and parents and undermined the ability for professionals to appropriately treat the disorder.   When patients or parents get the idea that the diagnosis of ADHD is a subjective invention of doctors, or that ADHD medications cause drug abuse, that makes it less likely they will seek treatment and will increase their chances of having adverse outcomes.

Fortunately, as John Adams famously said of the Boston Massacre, “Facts are stubborn things.”  And science is a stubborn enterprise; it does not tolerate shoddy research or opinions not supported by fact.   ADHD scientists have addressed many of the myths about the disorder in the International Consensus Statement on ADHD, a published summary of scientific facts about ADHD endorsed by a of 75 international ADHD scientists in 2002.  The statement describes evidence for the validity of ADHD, the existence of genetic and neurobiologic causes for the disorder and the range and severity of impairments caused by the disorder.The

Statement makes several key points:

  • The U.S. Surgeon General, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recognize ADHD as a valid disorder.
  • ADHD involves a serious deficiency in a set of psychological abilities and that these deficiencies pose serious harm to most individuals possessing the disorder.
  • Many studies show that the psychological deficits in people with ADHD are associated with abnormalities in several specific brain regions.
  • The genetic contribution to ADHD is routinely found to be among the highest for any psychiatric disorders.
  • ADHD is not a benign disorder. For those it afflicts, it can cause devastating problems.

The facts about ADHD will prevail if you take the time to learn about them.   This can be difficult when faced with a media blitz of information and misinformation about the disorder.  In future blogs, I’ll separate the fact from the fiction by addressing several popular myths about ADHD.

 

ADHD CME for Primary Care Professionals

p p on July 15, 2016

This ADHD in Adults program is very exciting to us for a number of reasons.

First, it’s a groundbreaking campaign where we can educate all kinds of health professionals about the realities of ADHD, the treatment protocols we know that work, and the medications and other kinds of modalities that help make ADHD patients successful.

We’ve got the participation of the best clinicians and researchers in the country, who are taking part in educating healthcare professionals about this adult ADHD disorder. They’ll be bringing us the latest information and updates.

We’re also using the latest technologies that help you as practitioners learn about adult ADHD. You’ll benefit from videos, from group updates, from emails, and you’ll really be able to take this information into your practice so that you can best change your practice behaviors and help your ADHD patients.

We’re looking to build a leadership-base of physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, who want to take out this new research and information about ADHD and bring it to their patients for the benefit not only of the patients, but the millions of people who are around them.

We have fertile ground now in the treatment of ADHD. We have the research that proves it exists, we have the medications and treatment modalities that are successful. All we need now is to get the information out there so that everyone can benefit.

Join us in our information and educational program at adhdinadults.com. We will be helping over ten million adults and, as I mentioned before, everyone who supports them. Thank you.

ADHD Diagnosis Collateral Retrospectives

Lenard A. Adler, on March 3, 2016

Breda,V;, Rovaris, DL; Schneider Vitola, E.; et al.  Does collateral retrospective information about childhood attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms assist in the diagnosis of attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults? Findings from a large clinical sample.  Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 1–9, DOI: 10.1177/0004867415609421.


Collateral information is commonly used in making the diagnosis of ADHD in a child or adolescent. The role of collateral retrospectives in making the diagnosis in adults presenting for evaluation for ADHD has been less well investigated. 


ADHD Diagnosis Collateral Retrospectives

This is an investigation of the relative importance of childhood collateral information in making a diagnosis of ADHD in an adult presenting for evaluation.  449 adults with ADHD and 143 controls were evaluated for the diagnosis of ADHD and co-morbidities with a modification of the K-SADS, ADHD symptoms with the SNAP-IV, and current/childhood impairment with the Barkley Current and Childhood Symptom scales.  Collateral childhood ADHD symptoms/impairments were also evaluated with the Barkley Childhood Symptom Scale, completed by a first or second degree relative. 


Click: Managing   ADHD MedicationsA diagnosis of ADHD via patient or collateral report required full childhood symptom onset prior to the age of 12.  A subset of adults with ADHD were also treated with methylphenidate immediate release (0.13-1.23 mg/kg/day); treatment response was measured via changes in SNAP-IV from baseline to endpoint. 


The data analyses were performed on three cohorts: 1) adults with ADHD where there was agreement as to childhood symptoms from the subject and informant (n=277), 2) adults with ADHD where there was disagreement between subjects and informants (n=172) and 3) controls.  ADHD patients (all) vs. controls did not significantly differ in terms of age, gender, years of education or income, but did have significantly more school failure problems with discipline and problems with the law.   The levels of impairment for the ADHD cohort were quite similar (collateral agreement + vs. -), except that the group with collateral and patient childhood agreement had higher levels of school suspensions and problems with discipline.  It is not that surprising that the collaterals and subjects had better agreement in these areas as school suspensions and discipline problems are more likely to be remembered by both subjects and collaterals. 


The ADHD cohorts (collateral agreement + vs. -) had similar levels of co-morbidity and treatment response to methylphenidate.  The combined ADHD cohorts had higher rates of tobacco use, bipolar disorder, current ODD, conduct disorder and non-alcohol SUD than controls.  A salient finding of this investigation is that 40% of subjects with adult ADHD had collateral informants who were unable to extensively corroborate their symptoms. 


Limitations of this study include the self-report nature of the SNAP-IV and the fact that this scale has not been validated for adults.  Also, of note, the subjects with adult ADHD had full childhood onset of the disorder retrospectively, which is a more stringent criteria than was utilized in DSM-IV.  It is not clear how utilizing more strict childhood criteria will influence the generalizability of these findings to clinically evaluated subjects using DSM-IV or DSM-5 guidelines. Download DSM-V Guidelines  for ADHD Diagnosis


Clinicians remain the final and optimal arbiter in establishing a diagnosis of adult ADHD; it remains up to clinicians to integrate information from all sources in establishing this diagnosis, be it from the subject, current significant others, collateral informants about childhood or clinician observations during the interview.

ADHD: Facts or Fiction

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on July 2, 2015

Many ADHD myths have been manufactured over the years.  Facts that are clear and compelling to most scientists and doctors have been distorted or discarded from popular media discussions of the disorder.   Sometimes, the popular media seems motivated by the maxim “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.”  That’s fine for storytellers, but it is not acceptable for serious and useful discussions about ADHD.

ADHD Myths are easy to find.  These myths have confused patients and parents and undermined the ability  of professionals to appropriately treat the disorder.   When patients or parents get the idea that the diagnosis of ADHD is a subjective invention of doctors, or that ADHD medications cause drug abuse, that makes it less likely they will seek treatment and will increase their chances of having adverse outcomes.


Fortunately, as John Adams famously said of the Boston Massacre, “Facts are stubborn things.”  And science is a stubborn enterprise; it does not tolerate shoddy research or opinions not supported by fact.   ADHD scientists have addressed many of the myths about the disorder in the International Consensus Statement on ADHD, a published summary of scientific facts about ADHD endorsed by a of 75 international ADHD scientists in 2002.  The statement describes evidence for the validity of ADHD, the existence of genetic and neurobiologic causes for the disorder and the range and severity of impairments caused by the disorder.


Download The Consensus Statement


The Statement makes several key points:


The U.S. Surgeon General, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recognize ADHD as a valid disorder.

ADHD involves a serious deficiency in a set of psychological abilities and that these deficiencies pose serious harm to most individuals possessing the disorder.

Many studies show that the psychological deficits in people with ADHD are associated with abnormalities in several specific brain regions.

The genetic contribution to ADHD is routinely found to be among the highest for any psychiatric disorders.

ADHD is not a benign disorder. For those it afflicts, it can cause devastating problems.

Hundreds of studies have shown the effectiveness of ADHD medications and multiple therapies.

The facts about ADHD will prevail if you take the time to learn about them.   This can be difficult when faced with a media blitz of information and misinformation about the disorder.  In future blogs, I’ll separate the ADHD facts from the fiction by addressing several popular myths about ADHD.


Editor’s note:  Our Ask the ADHD Experts sessions are designed specifically for experts to present updates and the latest unbiased research information on ADHD and related disorders.  Ask your questions.  Get them answered.  Subscribe and learn.