ADHD Demographics – ADHD in Adults

ADHD in College Students

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on January 13, 2020

This article was selected by the APA as January’s ‘Member Course of the Month.’

Authors:
Aaron E. Winkler, MD. University of Maryland / Sheppard Pratt Psychiatry Residency Program. David W. Goodman, MD, FAPA. Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Director of the Adult Attention Deficit Disorder Center of Maryland

ADHD continues to be a significant and difficult challenge in the collegiate world. The symptoms of the disorder directly impact a person’s ability to manage the demands of college. Matriculating students are expected to rapidly obtain and deploy many self-management skills. Increased academic expectations demand a greater capacity for sustained attention. And the evolving social milieu can tax the emotion-regulation and social cognition of those with ADHD.

Having seen our patients struggle, the Association for Collegiate Psychiatry decided to submit a workshop for presentation at the 2019 APA meeting in San Francisco. While developing the presentation we discovered a wealth of recent ‘young adult’ follow-up data from longitudinal studies.1 Without exception, the study’s findings reflected a significant decrease in functional outcomes across multiple domains of adult life. Further, we discovered that the new work coming from the TRAC observational study of college students has found troublesome rates of psychiatric comorbidity after the first year.2

This epidemiologic evidence supports devoting resources to the care of this cohort. But it appears that this has not penetrated the world of campus mental health treatment. At present, most post-secondary schools (to our knowledge, data is quite limited) lean toward policies that make it difficult for students with ADHD to be diagnosed or treated on campus. One obstacle is requiring evidence of a childhood diagnosis, which many children with high-IQ compensated ADHD may not have received. Another can be the demand for expensive and comprehensive neuropsychological testing even though the diagnostic value of that testing remains unclear.3 Some student health centers ask students to obtain prescriptions from the treaters they saw prior to coming to campus, even if those prescribers are out of state. Though these policies may be deployed in an effort to decrease diversion of stimulant medication, such hurdles may be difficult for the 18 year old ADHD student to navigate. The result is that many students with this predictably destructive condition go untreated.

The good news is this subject interests the collegiate community. Among other things, our APA workshop was selected to be the APA’s ‘Member’s Course of the Month’ for January 2020.4

Much work remains in developing and deploying diagnostic policies and treatment strategies that colleges and universities feel comfortable supporting. We mentioned the APSARD community during the workshop as a resource for professionals interested in ADHD. And we hope the wider ADHD research and treatment communities will join us in focusing our energy on this underserved and sometimes maligned group of students who need our help.

REFERENCES:

1) Gordon CT, Fabiano GA. The Transition of Youth with ADHD into the Workforce: Review and Future Directions. Clinical child and family psychology review. 2019 Feb 6:1-32.

2) Anastopoulos AD, DuPaul GJ, Weyandt LL, Morrissey-Kane E, Sommer JL, Rhoads LH, Murphy KR, Gormley MJ, Gudmundsdottir BG. Rates and patterns of comorbidity among first-year college students with ADHD. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. 2018 Mar 4;47(2):236-47.

3) Antshel, K. Role of Neuropsychological Assessment in ADHD. APSARD blog post Jan 2, 2020. Accessed Jan 17, 2020. https://apsard.org/role-of-neuropsychological-assessment-in-adhd-2/

4) https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/education/apa-learning-center/members-course-of-the-month

ADHD is Underdiagnosed, to Varying Degrees, Among Adults of Different Ethnicities, Ages, and Education Levels in the U.S.

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on January 3, 2020

A cohort study looked at over five million adults and over 850,000 children between the ages of five and eleven who received care at Kaiser Permanente Northern California during the ten-year period from the beginning of 2007 through the end of 2016. At any given time, KPNC serves roughly four million persons. It is representative of the population of the region, except for the highest and lowest income strata.

Among adults rates of ADHD diagnosis rose from 0.43% to 0.96%. Among children the diagnosis rates rose from 2.96% to 3.74%, ending up almost four times as high as for adults.

Non-Hispanic whites had the highest adult rates throughout, increasing from 0.67% in 2007 to 1.42% in 2016. American Indian or Alaska Native (AIAN) had the second highest rates, rising from 0.56% to 1.14%. Blacks and Hispanics had roughly comparable rates of diagnosis, the former rising from 0.22% to 0.69%, the latter from 0.25% to 0.65%. The lowest rates were among Asians (rising from 0.11% to 0.35%) and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders (increasing from 0.11% to 0.39%).

Odds of diagnosis dropped steeply with age among adults. Relative to 18-24-year-olds, 25-34-year-olds were 1/6th less likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, 35-44-year-olds 1/3rd less likely, 45-54-year-olds less than half as likely, 55-64-year-olds less than a quarter as likely, and those over 65 about a twentieth as likely. This is consistent with other studies reporting and age dependent decline in the diagnosis.

Adults with the highest levels of education were twice as likely to be diagnosed as those with the lowest levels. But variations in median household income had almost no effect. Women were marginally less likely to be diagnosed than men.

ADHD is associated with some other psychiatric disorders. Compared with normally developing adults, and adjusted for confounders, those with ADHD were five times as likely to have an eating disorder, over four times as likely to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder or depression, more than twice as likely to suffer from anxiety, but only slightly more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol.

The authors speculate that rising rates of diagnosis “could reflect increasing recognition of ADHD in adults by physicians and other clinicians as well as growing public awareness of ADHD during the decade under study.” Turning to the strong differences among ethnicities, they note, “Racial/ethnic differences could also reflect differential rates of treatment seeking or access to care. … Racial/ethnic background is known to play an important role in opinions on mental health services, health care utilization, and physician preferences. In addition, rates of diagnosis- seeking to obtain stimulant medication for nonmedical use may be more common among white vs nonwhite patients.” They conclude, “greater consideration must be placed on cultural influences on health care seeking and delivery, along with an increased understanding of the various social, psychological, and biological differences among races/ethnicities as well as culturally sensitive approaches to identify and treat ADHD in the total population.”

But the main take home message of this work is that most cases of ADHD in adults are not being diagnosed by clinicians. We know from population studies, worldwide, that about three percent of adults suffer from the disorder. This study found that less than 1 percent are diagnosed by their doctors. Clearly, more education is needed to teach clinicians how to identify, diagnose and treat ADHD in adults.

REFERENCES:

Winston Chung, MD, MS; Sheng-Fang Jiang, MS; Diana Paksarian, MPH, PhD; Aki Nikolaidis, PhD; F. Xavier Castellanos, MD; Kathleen R. Merikangas, PhD; Michael P. Milham, MD, PhD, “Trends in the Prevalence and Incidence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Among Adults and Children of Different Racial and Ethnic Groups,” JAMA Network Open (2019) 2(11): e1914344. DOI:10.1521/adhd.2019.27.4.8.

Researchers Have Found the First Risk Genes for ADHD

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on October 25, 2018

Our genes are very important for the development of mental disorders – including ADHD, where genetic factors capture up to 75% of the risk. Until now, the search for these genes had yet to deliver clear results. In the 1990s, many of us were searching for genes that increased the risk for ADHD because we know from twin studies that ADHD had a robust genetic component. Because I realized that solving this problem required many DNA samples from people with and without ADHD, I created the ADHD Molecular Genetics Network, funded by the US NIMH. We later joined forces with the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PTC) and the Danish iPSYCH group, which had access to many samples.

The result is a study of over 20,000 people with ADHD and 35,000 who do not suffer from it – finding twelve locations (loci) where people with a particular genetic variant have an increased risk of ADHD compared to those who do not have the variant. The results of the study have just been published in the scientific journal Nature Genetics, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0269-7.

These genetic discoveries provide new insights into the biology behind developing ADHD. For example, some of the genes have significance for how brain cells communicate with each other, while others are important for cognitive functions such as language and learning.

We study used genomewide association study (GWAS) methodology because it allowed us to discover genetic loci anywhere on the genome. The method assays DNA variants throughout the genome and determines which variants are more common among ADHD vs. control participants. It also allowed for the discovery of loci having very small effects. That feature was essential because prior work suggested that, except for very rare cases, ADHD risk loci would individually have small effects.

The main findings are:

A) we found 12 loci on the genome that we can be certain harbor DNA risk variants for ADHD. None of these loci were traditional ‘candidate genes’ for ADHD, i.e., genes involved in regulating neurotransmission systems that are affected by ADHD medications. Instead, these genes seem to be involved in the development of brain circuits.
B) we found a significant polygenic etiology in our data, which means that there must be many loci (perhaps thousands) having variants that increase risk for ADHD. We will need to collect a much larger sample to find out which specific loci are involved;

We also compared the new results with those from a genetic study of continuous measures of ADHD symptoms in the general population. We found that the same genetic variants that give rise to an ADHD diagnosis also affect inattention and impulsivity in the general population. This supports prior clinical research suggesting that, like hypertension and hypercholesteremia, ADHD is a continuous trait in the population. These genetic data now show that the genetic susceptibility to ADHD is also a quantitative trait comprised of many, perhaps thousands, of DNA variants

The study also examined the genetic overlap with other disorders and traits in analyses that ask the questions: Do genetic risk variants for ADHD increase or decrease the likelihood a person will express other traits and disorders. These analyses found a strong negative genetic correlation between ADHD and education. This tell us that many of the genetic variants which increase the risk for ADHD also make it more likely that persons will perform poorly in educational settings. The study also found a positive correlation between ADHD and obesity, increased BMI and type-2 diabetes, which is to say that variants that increase the risk of ADHD also increase the risk of overweight and type-2 diabetes in the population.

This work has laid the foundation for future work that will clarify how genetic risks combine with environmental risks to cause ADHD. When the pieces of that puzzle come together, researchers will be able to improve the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.

Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Effective for Older Adults with ADHD?

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on March 6, 2018

Though there have been numerous studies of the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for ADHD symptoms in children, adolescents, and adults, few have examined efficacy among adults over 50. A new study begins to fill that void.

Psychiatric researchers from the New York University School of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Pfizer randomly assigned 88 adults diagnosed with elevated levels of ADHD to one of two groups. The first group received 12 weeks of CBT targeting executive dysfunction – a deficiency in the ability to properly analyze, plan, organize, schedule, and complete tasks. The second group was assigned to a support group, intended to serve as a control for any effects arising from participating in a group therapy. Each group was split into subgroups of six to eight participants. One of the CBT subgroups was run concurrently with one of the support-only subgroups and matched on the percent receiving ADHD medications.

Outcomes were obtained for different ADHD demographics, 26 adults aged 50 or older (12 in CBT and 14 in support) and compared with 55 younger adults (29 in CBT and 26 in support). The mean age of the younger group was 35 and of the older group 56. Roughly half of the older group, and 3/5ths of the younger group, was on medication. Independent (“blinded”) clinicians rated symptoms of ADHD before and after treatment.

In the blind structured interview, both inattentive scores and executive function scores improved significantly and almost identically for both older and younger adults following CBT. When compared with the controls (support groups), however, there was a marked divergence. In younger adults, CBT groups significantly outperformed support groups, with mean relative score improvements of 3.7 for inattentive symptoms and 2.9 for executive functioning. In older adults, however, the relative score improvements were only 1.1 and 0.9, and were not statistically significant.

Given the nonsignificant improvements over placebo, the authors’ conclusion that “The results provide preliminary evidence that CBT is an effective intervention for older adults with ADHD” is premature. As they note, a similar large placebo effect was seen in adults over 50 in a meta-analysis of CBT for depression, rendering the outcomes nonsignificant. Perhaps structured human contact is the key ingredient in this age group. It may also be, as suggested by the positive relative gains on six of seven measures, that CBT has a small net benefit over placebo, which cannot be validated with such a small sample size. Awaiting results from studies with larger sample sizes, it is for now impossible to reach any definitive conclusions about the efficacy of CBT for treating adults over 50.

Note: Andrew Reding is co-author on this post.

REFERENCES
Mary V. Solanto, Craig B. Surman, Jose Ma. J. Alvir, “The efficacy of cognitive–behavioral therapy for older adults with ADHD: a randomized controlled trial,” ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders (2018)

ADHD from Childhood to Adulthood

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on June 5, 2017

Although ADHD was conceived as a childhood disorder, we now know that many cases persist into adulthood. My colleagues and I charted the progression of ADHD through childhood, adolescence and adulthood in our “Primer” about ADHD, http://rdcu.be/gYyV. Although the lifetime course of ADHD varies among adults with the disorder, there are many consistent themes, which we described in the accompanying infographic. Most cases of ADHD start in utero, before the child is born. As a fetus, the future ADHD person carries versions of genes that increase risk for the disorder. At the same time they are exposed to toxic environments. These genetic and environmental risks change the developing brain, setting the foundation for the future emergence of ADHD. In preschool early signs of ADHD are seen in emotional lability, hyperactivity, disinhibited behavior and speech, language and coordination problems. The full blown ADHD syndrome typically occurs in early childhood but can be delayed until adolescence. In some cases, the future ADHD person is temporarily protected from the emergence of ADHD due to factors such as high intelligences or especially supportive family and/or school environments. But as the challenges of life increase, this social, emotional and intellectual scaffolding is no longer sufficient to control the emergence of disabling ADHD symptoms. Throughout childhood and adolescence the emergence and persistence of the disorder is regulated by additional environmental risk factors such as family chaos along with the age dependent expression of risk genes that exert different effects at different stages of development. During adolescence, most cases of ADHD persist and by the teenage years, many youth with ADHD have onset with a mood, anxiety or substance use disorder. Indeed, it is essential for parents and clinicians to monitor ADHD youth for early signs of these disorders. Prompt treatment can prevent years of distress and disability. By adulthood, the number of comorbid conditions has increased, including obesity, which likely has effects of future medical outcomes. The ADHD adult tends to be very inattentive by shows fewer symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsivity. They remain at risk for substance abuse, low self-esteem, occupational failure and social disability, especially if they are not treated for the disorder. Fortunately, there are several classes of medicine available to treat ADHD that have been shown to be safe and effective. And the effects of these medications are enhanced by cognitive behavior therapy as I’ve written about in prior blogs.

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

ADHD and Cognitive Function in Older Adults

Lenard A. Adler, on September 22, 2016

E. J. Semeijn, N. C. M. Korten, H. C. Comijs, M. Michielsen, D. J. H. Deeg, A. T. F. Beekman and J. J. S. Kooij. No lower cognitive functioning in older adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. International Psychogeriatrics: International Psychogeriatric Association 2015 doi:10.1017/S1041610215000010.

The largest percentage growth in stimulant prescriptions in the last year is in adults over the age of 50 years of age (Adler LA. ADHD in Older Adults. Paper Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, New York , New York, May 2014). Even though stimulant prescriptions may be increasing in older adults with ADHD, the number of studies which have examined older adults with ADHD is relatively small. One concern in studying adults with ADHD is the potential confound of cognitive decline that may occur with aging in assessing ADHD symptoms. This study examined the cognitive function of older adults without ADHD vs. those with ADHD (n=231) in the Longitudinal Study Amsterdam (LASA). Cognitive function was assessed via neuropsychological measures of functioning, information processing speed, memory, and attention/working memory. The authors only found a negative association of ADHD symptom severity and attention/working memory domain; however, when depressive symptoms were controlled for, this association was no longer significant. Neuropsychological impairments in attention and working memory have also been shown in younger adults with ADHD. This study highlights the need for further investigations of cognitive functioning in older adults with ADHD and the importance of screening for depression in these individuals.

ADHD in Older Adults – The Next Clinical Frontier

David W. Goodman, MD, LFAPA on August 11, 2016

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is the most common childhood psychiatric disorder and the second most prevalent adult psychiatric disorder second to Major Depression. Yet, until recently, ADHD in adults over age 50 was not identified. As we have come to understand, ADHD symptoms with impairments persist into adulthood for 60% of ADHD children.

For those adults with ADHD, how many will have symptoms that persist for the rest of their lives? How do these symptoms and impairments present? How do we discern ADHD symptoms from other factors contributing to cognitive change with age? How do we obtain clinical history in those patients who can’t remember childhood or adolescent symptoms? Would objective tests differentiate diagnoses? What treatments work well for this age group? What medical considerations are necessary for prescribing ADHD treatments to those with medical illness and multiple medications? What safety parameters need to be considered in this age group when prescribing ADHD medications? What are the drug-drug interactions that may be clinically relevant?

For clinicians and researchers, these questions represent opportunities to expand our fund of knowledge to better serve the needs of ADHD patients in all age categories.

The population of persons older than 65 years of age in the U.S. will grow from 43.1 million to 88.5 million between 2012 and 2050. A recent review of the literature on ADHD in older adults reports a prevalence rate of 2.8% in the Netherlands, 3.5% in Sweden, and 3.5% in Germany. A meta-analysis of ADHD prevalence in studies utilizing different age ranges spanning 18-78 years suggests that prevalence may decline with age. However, given that these studies used DSM-IV criteria with a symptom age threshold of 7 and the absence of a validated ADHD symptom profile for older adults, these cited prevalences may underestimate the ADHD population.

Reliance on childhood ADHD diagnosis to substantiate ADHD in older adults is often not useful because in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication in the U.S., 75% of ADHD adults ages 18-44 had not been diagnosed as children and no ADHD adults ages 60-77 were diagnosed as children. Remember that these people grew up in the 1950s and 1960s when ADHD was rarely identified and then only in the most hyperactive/impulsive and disruptive males.

I believe that ADHD in older adults will become the next clinical frontier. While there is some research beginning to accumulate to support identifying and treating this population, the relative absence of trained ADHD clinicians for this population means many unidentified older adults will be diagnosed inaccurately with age related cognitive disorders. To exemplify this likelihood, a U.S. study canvassing memory clinics demonstrated that only 1 in 5 clinics currently screen for ADHD. Therefore, older adults with ADHD are not identified and offered effective ADHD medication and treatment. The result may be ineffective treatment, unnecessary increased medical costs, and the decline in quality of life.

For those of you reading this blog, I would encourage you to consider ADHD in older adults whose cognitive complaints have been long-standing, whose negative consequences and impairments echo an ADHD life course, and in whom a first degree relative has ADHD.

Adult Onset ADHD: Does it Exist? Is it Distinct from Youth Onset ADHD?

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on August 4, 2016

There is a growing interest (and controversy) about ‘adult’ onset ADHD. No current diagnostic system allows for the diagnosis of ADHD in adulthood, yet clinicians sometimes face adults who meet all criteria for ADHD, except for age at onset. Although many of these clinically referred adult onset cases may reflect poor recall, several recent longitudinal population studies have claimed to detect cases of adult onset ADHD that showed no signs of ADHD as youth (Agnew-Blais, Polanczyk et al. 2016, Caye, Rocha et al. 2016). They conclude, not only that ADHD can onset in adulthood, but that childhood onset and adult onset ADHD may be distinct syndromes (Moffitt, Houts et al. 2015).

In each study, the prevalence of adult onset ADHD was much larger than the prevalence of childhood-onset adult ADHD). These estimates should be viewed with caution. The adults in two of the studies were 18-19 years old. That is too small a slice of adulthood to draw firm conclusions. As discussed elsewhere (Faraone and Biederman 2016), the claims for adult onset ADHD are all based on population as opposed to clinical studies. Population studies are plagued b the “false positive paradox”, which states that, even when false positive rates are low, many or even most diagnoses in a population study can be false.

Another problem is that the false positive rate is sensitive to the method of diagnosis. The child diagnoses in the studies claiming the existence of adult onset ADHD used reports from parents and/or teachers but the adult diagnoses were based on self-report. Self-reports of ADHD in adults are less reliable than informant reports, which raises concerns about measurement error. Another longitudinal study found that current symptoms of ADHD were under-reported by adults who had had ADHD in childhood and over-reported by adults who did not have ADHD in childhood (Sibley, Pelham et al. 2012). These issues strongly suggest that the studies claiming the existence of adult onset ADHD underestimated the prevalence of persistent ADHD and overestimated the prevalence of adult onset ADHD. Thus, we cannot yet accept the conclusion that most adults referred to clinicians with ADHD symptoms will not have a history of ADHD in youth.

The new papers conclude that child and adult ADHD are “distinct syndromes”, “that adult ADHD is more complex than a straightforward continuation of the childhood disorder” and that that adult ADHD is “not a neurodevelopmental disorder”. These conclusions are provocative, suggesting a paradigm shift in how we view adulthood and childhood ADHD. Yet they seem premature. In these studies, people were categorized as adult onset ADHD if full-threshold ADHD had not been diagnosed in childhood. Yet, in all of these population studies there was substantial evidence that the adult onset cases were not neurotypical in adulthood (Faraone and Biederman 2016). Notably, in a study of referred cases, one-third of late adolescent and adult onset cases had childhood histories of ODD, CD and school failure (Chandra, Biederman et al. 2016). Thus, many of the “adult onsets” of ADHD appear to have had neurodevelopmental roots.

Looking through a more parsimonious lens, Faraone and Biederman (2016)proposed that the putative cases of adult onset ADHD reflect the existence of subthreshold childhood ADHD that emerges with full threshold diagnostic criteria in adulthood. Other work shows that subthreshold ADHD in childhood predicts onsets of the full-threshold ADHD in adolescence (Lecendreux, Konofal et al. 2015). Why is onset delayed in subthreshold cases? One possibility is that intellectual and social supports help subthreshold ADHD youth compensate in early life, with decompensation occurring when supports are removed in adulthood or the challenges of life increase. A related possibility is that the subthreshold cases are at the lower end of a dimensional liability spectrum that indexes risk for onset of ADHD symptoms and impairments. This is consistent with the idea that ADHD is an extreme form of a dimensional trait, which is supported by twin and molecular genetic studies (Larsson, Anckarsater et al. 2012, Lee, Ripke et al. 2013). These data suggest that disorders emerge when risk factors accumulate over time to exceed a threshold. Those with lower levels of risk at birth will take longer to accumulate sufficient risk factors and longer to onset.

In conclusion, it is premature to accept the idea that there exists an adult onset form of ADHD that does not have its roots in neurodevelopment and is not expressed in childhood. It is, however, the right time to carefully study apparent cases of adult onset ADHD to test the idea that they are late manifestations of a subthreshold childhood condition.

Caye, A., T. B.-M. Rocha, L. Luciana Anselmi, J. Murray, A. M. B. Menezes, F. C. Barros, H. Gonçalves, F. Wehrmeister, C. M. Jensen, H.-C. Steinhausen, J. M. Swanson, C. Kieling and L. A. Rohde (2016). “ADHD does not always begin in childhood: E 1 vidence from a large birth cohort.” JAMA.

Chandra, S., J. Biederman and S. V. Faraone (2016). “Assessing the Validity of the Age at Onset Criterion for Diagnosing ADHD in DSM-5.” J Atten Disord.
Faraone, S. V. and J. Biederman (2016). “Can Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Onset Occur in Adulthood?” JAMA Psychiatry.
Larsson, H., H. Anckarsater, M. Rastam, Z. Chang and P. Lichtenstein (2012). “Childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as an extreme of a continuous trait: a quantitative genetic study of 8,500 twin pairs.” J Child Psychol Psychiatry 53(1): 73-80.

Lecendreux, M., E. Konofal, S. Cortese and S. V. Faraone (2015). “A 4-year follow-up of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in a population sample.” J Clin Psychiatry 76(6): 712-719.

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Scheftner, G. D. Schellenberg, S. W. Scherer, N. J. Schork, T. G. Schulze, J. Schumacher, M. Schwarz, E. Scolnick, L. J. Scott, J. Shi, P. D. Shilling, S. I. Shyn, J. M. Silverman, S. L. Slager, S. L. Smalley, J. H. Smit, E. N. Smith, E. J. Sonuga-Barke, D. St Clair, M. State, M. Steffens, H. C. Steinhausen, J. S. Strauss, J. Strohmaier, T. S. Stroup, J. S. Sutcliffe, P. Szatmari, S. Szelinger, S. Thirumalai, R. C. Thompson, A. A. Todorov, F. Tozzi, J. Treutlein, M. Uhr, E. J. van den Oord, G. Van Grootheest, J. Van Os, A. M. Vicente, V. J. Vieland, J. B. Vincent, P. M. Visscher, C. A. Walsh, T. H. Wassink, S. J. Watson, M. M. Weissman, T. Werge, T. F. Wienker, E. M. Wijsman, G. Willemsen, N. Williams, A. J. Willsey, S. H. Witt, W. Xu, A. H. Young, T. W. Yu, S. Zammit, P. P. Zandi, P. Zhang, F. G. Zitman, S. Zollner, B. Devlin, J. R. Kelsoe, P. Sklar, M. J. Daly, M. C. O’Donovan, N. Craddock, P. F. Sullivan, J. W. Smoller, K. S. Kendler and N. R. Wray (2013). “Genetic relationship between five psychiatric disorders estimated from genome-wide SNPs.” Nat Genet 45(9): 984-994.

Moffitt, T. E., R. Houts, P. Asherson, D. W. Belsky, D. L. Corcoran, M. Hammerle, H. Harrington, S. Hogan, M. H. Meier, G. V. Polanczyk, R. Poulton, S. Ramrakha, K. Sugden, B. Williams, L. A. Rohde and A. Caspi (2015). “Is Adult ADHD a Childhood-Onset Neurodevelopmental Disorder? Evidence From a Four-Decade Longitudinal Cohort Study.” Am J Psychiatry: appiajp201514101266.

Sibley, M. H., W. E. Pelham, B. S. Molina, E. M. Gnagy, J. G. Waxmonsky, D. A. Waschbusch, K. J. Derefinko, B. T. Wymbs, A. C. Garefino, D. E. Babinski and A. B. Kuriyan (2012). “When diagnosing ADHD in young adults emphasize informant reports, DSM items, and impairment.” J Consult Clin Psychol 80(6): 1052-1061.

Adult Onset ADHD

Stephen V. Faraone, PhD on August 4, 2016

Adult Onset ADHD: Does it Exist? Is it Distinct from Youth Onset ADHD? There is a growing interest (and controversy) about ‘adult’ onset ADHD. No current diagnostic system allows for the diagnosis of ADHD in adulthood, yet clinicians sometimes face adults who meet all criteria for ADHD, except for age at onset. Although many of these clinically referred adult onset cases may reflect poor recall, several recent longitudinal population studies have claimed to detect cases of adult onset ADHD that showed no signs of ADHD as youth (Agnew-Blais, Polanczyk et al. 2016, Caye, Rocha et al. 2016). They conclude, not only that ADHD can onset in adulthood, but that childhood onset and adult onset ADHD may be distinct syndromes (Moffitt, Houts et al. 2015).

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Wray (2013). “Genetic relationship between five psychiatric disorders estimated from genome-wide SNPs.” Nat Genet 45(9): 984-994.
Moffitt, T. E., R. Houts, P. Asherson, D. W. Belsky, D. L. Corcoran, M. Hammerle, H. Harrington, S. Hogan, M. H. Meier, G. V. Polanczyk, R. Poulton, S. Ramrakha, K. Sugden, B. Williams, L. A. Rohde and A. Caspi (2015). “Is Adult ADHD a Childhood-Onset Neurodevelopmental Disorder? Evidence From a Four-Decade Longitudinal Cohort Study.” Am J Psychiatry: appiajp201514101266.
Sibley, M. H., W. E. Pelham, B. S. Molina, E. M. Gnagy, J. G. Waxmonsky, D. A. Waschbusch, K. J. Derefinko, B. T. Wymbs, A. C. Garefino, D. E. Babinski and A. B. Kuriyan (2012). “When diagnosing ADHD in young adults emphasize informant reports, DSM items, and impairment.” J Consult Clin Psychol 80(6): 1052-1061.

African American Adults with ADHD – Cultural Barriers and Reduced Access to Care

Anthony L. Rostain, MD MA on March 24, 2016

Clin Psychiatry. 2015; 76(3):279-283.
“Cultural Background and Barriers to Mental Health Care for African American Adults”
Rostain, A.L., Ramsay, J.R., Waite, R.

This article delineates key patient and provider cultural biases that interfere with access to care for African American Adults with ADHD. It provides an important framework for understanding how these biases come about and what clinicians can do to address them. A brief review of the relationship between psychiatry and African Americans points out that beginning with slavery and continuing through the Tuskegee experiment, there is a legacy of racism in American medicine that influences the way patients view health care providers (and vice versa).

For instance, drapetomania was a clinical diagnosis given to slaves who demonstrated resistance to the institution by running away, refusing to follow rules, destroying property and fighting the plantation slave owners. In this fashion, psychiatry played an important role in supporting racism and racist beliefs. Similar analogies can be made to the ways that psychiatry classified homosexuality as a mental illness.

The point of this historical review is to underscore the longstanding mistrust that exists within the African American community toward medicine in general and psychiatry in particular. Add to this, the stigma associated with mental illness and substance abuse, it becomes easier to understand why many African American adults fail to seek treatment for disorders like ADHD.

The article goes on to discuss barriers to obtaining mental health treatment including patient factors (e.g. low income, lack of health insurance, fear and other negative attitudes) and health care system factors (e.g. limited access to culturally and technically competent providers and provider biases). Without question, higher rates of poverty and of lack of insurance among the minority population leads to markedly reduced access to care. The article points out that whereas rates of adequate mental health treatment among whites is 33%, the figure drops to 12% for African Americans. Moreover. white
children are twice as likely to receive ADHD medication as African American children. Cultural biases among providers may lead them to be insufficiently attuned to the presence of ADHD in adult patients, ascribing the symptoms of ADHD, such as inattention, restlessness and disorganization either to personal failing (e.g. lack of self-discipline) or to environmental factors (e.g. low SES, lack of education) rather than to the influence of ADHD.

The paper concludes with practical recommendations for clinicians to address these barriers including providing accurate science based information, listening and being sensitive to stigmatizing experiences that African American patients may have encountered, and recognizing the deleterious effects of conscious and unconscious biases among well-meaning providers.