Predictors of persistence and remission of ADHD into adolescence: results from a four-year prospective follow-up study.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the predictors of persistence and the timing of remission of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).


METHODS
Subjects were 6- to 17-year old Caucasian, non-Hispanic boys with and without ADHD. DSM-III-R structured diagnostic interviews and blind raters were used to examine psychiatric diagnoses, cognitive achievement, social, school, and family functioning at a 4-year follow-up assessment.


RESULTS
At the 4-year follow-up assessment, 85% of children with ADHD continued to have the disorder and 15% remitted. Of those who remitted, half did so in childhood and the other half in adolescence. Predictors of persistence were familiality of ADHD, psychosocial adversity, and comorbidity with conduct, mood, and anxiety disorders.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings prospectively confirm that the majority of children with ADHD will continue to express the disorder 4 years later. For a minority of children, ADHD was a transient disorder that remits early in development. In addition, we have shown that persistence of ADHD is predictable. Familiality, adversity, and psychiatric comorbidity may be clinically useful predictors of which children with ADHD are at risk for a persistent disorder.
Biederman
J
J
Pediatric Psychopharmacology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA.
Faraone
S
S
Milberger
S
S
Curtis
S
S
Chen
L
L
Marrs
A
A
Ouellette
C
C
Moore
P
P
Spencer
T
T
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012074:Remission Induction