Military performance of men with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: findings from a follow-up study in the Northern Finland birth cohort 1986

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to assess the military performance of men with adolescent attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and men with childhood ADHD (in remission during adolescence) as compared with controls without ADHD.

Methods

The study employs the general population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (NFBC1986) together with data received from the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF). A total of 38 men with childhood ADHD and 67 with adolescent ADHD were compared with 160 controls.

Results

The men with adolescent ADHD were more often deemed unfit for military service, had more military health care visits, more often committed at least one offence during service, received poorer evaluations for team leadership skills and indulged in more alcohol consumption and smoking than the controls, while those with childhood ADHD did not differ from the controls in their military fitness, but received poorer evaluations for team leadership skills and smoked more than did the controls.

Conclusion

The conscripts with adolescent ADHD performed worse on many military parameters, but the men with ADHD in remission did not seem to suffer from such negative effects on military performance. The childhood ADHD group in particular was nevertheless somewhat limited in size, which might have led to a Type II error.

Keywords:

• ADHD
• ADHD in remission
• military service
• population-based birth cohort

Disclosure statement

AHH has received travel fees for Finnish symposium (Lundbeck). No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors..

Data availability statement

NFBC data are available from the University of Oulu, Infrastructure for Population Studies. Please, contact the NFBC project centre ([email protected]) and visit the cohort website (www.oulu.fi/nfbc) for more information. Permission to use the data for research can be applied for via the electronic material request portal. In using data, we follow the Finnish Data Protection Act and the EU general data protection regulation (679/2016).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Terttu Foundation, Oulu University Hospital to AHH and TH. The study was also supported by the Center for Military Medicine to TH. This research did not receive any other specific grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

Anu-Helmi Halt

Anu-Helmi Halt, MD, PhD, is a clinical lecturer and a post-doctoral researcher at Research Unit of Clinical Medicine, Psychiatry, University of Oulu and a co-PI in the follow-up study of ADHD in NFBC 1986. She also works as a psychiatrist and as a cognitive psychotherapist in Oulu University Hospital.

Jouni Uusitalo

Jouni Uusitalo, MD, works as a researcher at the Research Unit of Clinical Medicine, Psychiatry, University of Oulu.

Pekka Niemi

Pekka Niemi, MD, works as a researcher at the Research Unit of Clinical Medicine, Psychiatry, University of Oulu.

Jari Koskela

Jari Koskela, MSc, is a solution designer and a database specialist at Department of Economics, Accounting and Finance, Oulu Business School, University of Oulu.

Tuula Hurtig

Tuula Hurtig, PhD, is an Associate Professor and University Lecturer at the Research Unit of Clinical Medicine, Psychiatry, Child Psychiatry, University of Oulu, and a PI in the follow-up study of ADHD in the NFBC 1986. She is also affiliated with the Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital.