Adult psychiatric outcomes of girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: 11-year follow-up in a longitudinal case-control study.
OBJECTIVE
Few follow-up studies have been conducted of girls with ADHD, and none have followed girls into adulthood. The authors sought to estimate the prevalence of psychopathology in girls with and without ADHD followed into young adulthood.


METHODS
The authors conducted a longitudinal case-control study of 6- to 18-year-old girls with (N=140) and without (N=122) ADHD ascertained from psychiatric and pediatric sources. At the 11-year follow-up, 96 (69%) of the girls with ADHD and 91 (75%) of the comparison girls were reassessed (mean age=22 years). Participants were blindly assessed by structured diagnostic interviews.


RESULTS
Lifetime and 1-year risks for all composite categories of psychopathology were significantly greater in girls with ADHD grown up relative to comparison girls; lifetime hazard ratios were 7.2 (95% CI=4.0-12.7) for antisocial disorders, 6.8 (95% CI=3.7-12.6) for mood disorders, 2.1 (95% CI=1.6-2.9) for anxiety disorders, 3.2 (95% CI=2.0-5.3) for developmental disorders, 2.7 (95% CI=1.6-4.3) for addictive disorders, and 3.5 (95% CI=1.6-7.3) for eating disorders. For lifetime psychopathology, all six composite categories remained statistically significant after controlling for other baseline psychopathology. Except for addictive disorders, significant 1-year findings remained significant after controlling for baseline psychopathology. The 1-year prevalences of composite disorders were not associated with lifetime or 1-year use of ADHD medication.


CONCLUSIONS
By young adulthood, girls with ADHD were at high risk for antisocial, addictive, mood, anxiety, and eating disorders. These prospective findings, previously documented in boys with ADHD, provide further evidence for the high morbidity associated with ADHD across the life cycle.
Biederman
Joseph
J
Clinical and Research Programs in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. jbiederman@partners.org
Petty
Carter R
CR
Monuteaux
Michael C
MC
Fried
Ronna
R
Byrne
Deirdre
D
Mirto
Tara
T
Spencer
Thomas
T
Wilens
Timothy E
TE
Faraone
Stephen V
SV
D000293:Adolescent; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult