Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder persistence from childhood into young adult age: a 10-year longitudinal study

ABSTRACT

Introduction

The aim of this study was to estimate ADHD persistence in a European clinical sample of children diagnosed with ADHD and followed prospectively for 10 years into young adulthood.

Methods

We assessed 85 children with ADHD at baseline (M_age= 11.6, SD = 2.1, 54% male) and re-assessed 59 at 10-year follow-up (M_age= 21.4, SD = 2.3, 54% male). ADHD symptoms at baseline were assessed with a semi-structured clinical interview (Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia/Present and lifetime version) and parent rating scales (ADHD Rating Scale IV, Child Behavior Checklist). ADHD symptoms at 10-year follow-up were assessed with a semi-structured clinical interview (MINI-Plus) and self-report scales (ADHD Self-Report Scale version 1.1 screener, Adult Self Report). Functional impairment at 10-year follow-up was assessed with the Global Assessment of Functioning scale.

Results

At 10-year follow-up, 39% met ADHD symptom thresholds based on clinical evaluation using MINI-Plus or the ADHD Self-Report Scale version 1.1 screener or the Adult Self Report together with clinicians’ rating of functional impairment.

Conclusion

ADHD persistence rates in this European clinical sample match previous estimates and indicate that a significant proportion of those diagnosed with ADHD as children still exhibit clinical levels of ADHD symptoms in adulthood.

KEYWORDS:

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
• persistence
• adults
• European

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the participants for taking part in this study. This study was prospectively reviewed and approved by the Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics in Eastern Norway (REK 6-2009-24, 2018/1611) and the Privacy Ombudsman for Research at Innlandet Hospital Trust. The studies were conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association Assembly. ES contributed to conceptualisation, methodology, investigation, formal analysis, funding acquisition, supervision, project administration, and wrote the original draft. SO contributed to the conceptualisation, data curation, formal analysis, and writing. IF contributed to data investigation, data curation and writing—reviewing and editing. PA contributed to methodology, investigation, supervision, and writing—reviewing and editing. MØ contributed to the methodology, investigation, funding acquisition, supervision, and writing—reviewing and editing. All authors approved the final manuscript for submission.

Data availability statement

The datasets presented in this paper are not readily available because the data serving as the basis for the paper submitted is stored in a secured repository at Innlandet Hospital Trust (Norway). Due to ethical restrictions on access to the data pursuant to the consent statements participants signed upon collecting the data, the authors are not permitted to upload a data set to sites outside of the repository. Access to the data, however, is available upon request to all serious researchers by contacting the following persons at Innlandet Hospital Trust: Erik Winther Skogli. Requests to access the datasets should be directed to [email protected].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from Innlandet Hospital Trust [grant numbers 150610, 150624, and 150648] and from the Norwegian Centre of Expertise for Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Hypersomnias, Department of Rare Disorders and Disabilities, Oslo University Hospital [grant number 150616].

Notes on contributors

Erik Winther Skogli

Erik Winther Skogli, PhD, is a clinical psychologist at Innlandet Hospital Trust, Division Mental Health Care, Norway. His research focuses on the regulation of cognition, emotion, and behavior in children and adolescents with ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders and Tourette’s Syndrome.

Stian Orm

Stian Orm, MA, is a PhD student at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. In collaboration with the Innlandet Hospital Trust, Division Mental Health, his research program focuses on development of cognitive and emotional regulation in children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Ingrid Nesdal Fossum

Ingrid Nesdal Fossum, MA, is a PhD student at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. In collaboration with the Innlandet Hospital Trust, Division Mental Health, her research program focuses on development of cognitive and emotional regulation in children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Per Normann Andersen

Per Normann Andersen, PhD, is professor at Department of Psychology, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. His research focuses on the regulation of cognition, emotion, and behavior in children and adolescents with ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders and Tourette’s Syndrome.

Merete Glenne Øie

Merete Øie, PhD, is professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo, and a research adviser at the Innlandet Hospital Trust, Norway. Her research interests include neuropsychological functions in ADHD and other neuropsychiatric disorders.