How persistent is ADHD? A controlled 10-year follow-up study of boys with ADHD

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 177; no. 3; pp. 299 - 304
• Main Authors: Biederman, Joseph, Petty, Carter R., Evans, Maggie, Small, Jacqueline, Faraone, Stephen V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ireland Ltd 30.05.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: ADHD; Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - diagnosis; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - epidemiology; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - physiopathology; Attention deficit disorders. Hyperactivity; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child clinical studies; Comorbidity; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Educational Status; Humans; Longitudinal; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical sciences; Mood Disorders - epidemiology; Personality Disorders - epidemiology; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Remission; Socioeconomic Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; ADHD; Adult; Remission; Longitudinal; Social environment; Human; Social adjustment; Male; Persistence; Symptomatology; Concomitant disease; School age; Follow up study; Adolescent; Young adult; Family environment; Mental disorder; Attention disorder with hyperactivity; Diagnosis; Child; Age
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2009.12.010

The main aim of this study was to examine the age-dependent persistence of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in boys transitioning from adolescence into early adulthood attending to different definitions of persistence. We conducted a 10-year follow-up study (mean follow-up time = 11 years) of 110 boys with ADHD and 105 non-ADHD controls. Both groups were 6–17 years of age at ascertainment. ADHD was considered persistent at follow-up if subjects met full or subthreshold (more than half of the symptoms required for a full diagnosis) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, (DSM-IV) diagnostic criteria, failed to attain functional remission (Global Assessment of Functioning, GAF score ≤ 60) or were receiving treatment for ADHD. While 65% of children with ADHD no longer met full DSM-IV criteria for ADHD at the 10-year follow-up, 78% of subjects met at least one of our definitions of persistence. Persistence as described above was associated with more psychiatric co-morbidity, more familiality with mood disorders and higher levels of educational and interpersonal impairments than controls. This 10-year longitudinal follow-up study shows that the majority of ADHD boys experience persistent symptoms and functional impairments into early adulthood. Persistence of ADHD is associated with greater psychiatric comorbidity, familiality and functional impairments.