The following broad trends emerged : ( 1 ) without treatment , people with ADHD had poorer long-term outcomes in all categories compared with people without ADHD , and ( 2 ) treatment for ADHD improved long-term outcomes compared with untreated ADHD , although not usually to normal levels .
Conclusions This systematic review provides a synthesis of studies of ADHD long-term outcomes .
Current treatments may reduce the negative impact that untreated ADHD has on life functioning , but does not usually ' normalize ' the recipients
Background In childhood , attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) is characterized by age-inappropriate levels of inattentiveness/disorganization , hyperactivity/impulsiveness , or a combination thereof .
Although the criteria for ADHD are well defined , the long-term consequences in adults and children need to be more comprehensively understood and quantified .
We conducted a systematic review evaluating the long-term outcomes ( defined as 2 years or more ) of ADHD with the goal of identifying long-term outcomes and the impact that any treatment ( pharmacological , non-pharmacological , or multimodal ) has on ADHD long-term outcomes .
Adult outcome of hyperactive boys. Educational achievement, occupational rank, and psychiatric status.
OBJECTIVE The paucity of data concerning the long-term natural history of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) , a common childhood psychiatric disorder , prompted a longitudinal study to investigate the adult sequelae of the childhood disorder . DESIGN Prospect i ve study , follow-up intervals ranging from 13 to 19 years ( mean , 16 years ) , with blind systematic clinical assessment s. SUBJECTS Ninety-one white males ( mean age , 26 years ) , representing 88 % of a cohort systematic ally diagnosed as hyperactive in childhood , and 95 ( 95 % ) of comparison cases of similar race , gender , age , whose teachers had voiced no complaints about their school behavior in childhood . RESULTS Prob and s had significantly higher rates than comparisons of ADHD symptoms ( 11 % vs 1 % ) , antisocial personality disorders ( 18 % vs 2 % ) , and drug abuse disorders ( 16 % vs 4 % ) . Significant comorbidity occurred between antisocial and drug disorders . Educational and occupational achievements were significantly compromised in the prob and s. These disadvantages were independent of psychiatric status . We did not find increased rates of affective or anxiety disorders in the prob and s. CONCLUSIONS Childhood ADHD predicts specific adult psychiatric disorders , namely antisocial and drug abuse disorders . In the adolescent outcome of this cohort , we found that these disturbances were dependent on the continuation of ADHD symptoms . In contrast , in adulthood , antisocial and drug disorders appeared , in part , independent of sustained ADHD . In addition , regardless of psychiatric status , ADHD placed children at relative risk for educational and vocational disadvantage . The results do not support a relationship between childhood ADHD and adult mood or anxiety disorders
The following broad trends emerged : ( 1 ) without treatment , people with ADHD had poorer long-term outcomes in all categories compared with people without ADHD , and ( 2 ) treatment for ADHD improved long-term outcomes compared with untreated ADHD , although not usually to normal levels .
Conclusions This systematic review provides a synthesis of studies of ADHD long-term outcomes .
Current treatments may reduce the negative impact that untreated ADHD has on life functioning , but does not usually ' normalize ' the recipients
Background In childhood , attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) is characterized by age-inappropriate levels of inattentiveness/disorganization , hyperactivity/impulsiveness , or a combination thereof .
Although the criteria for ADHD are well defined , the long-term consequences in adults and children need to be more comprehensively understood and quantified .
We conducted a systematic review evaluating the long-term outcomes ( defined as 2 years or more ) of ADHD with the goal of identifying long-term outcomes and the impact that any treatment ( pharmacological , non-pharmacological , or multimodal ) has on ADHD long-term outcomes .