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 .
Young adult outcome of hyperactive children who received long-term stimulant treatment.
Prospect i ve young adult outcomes ( mean age 21.8 years ) of children who had been diagnosed as having attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity and who had been treated with methylpheni date for at least 3 years were compared with those of a matched normal control group and a group of hyperactive young adults who had not received any stimulant treatment .  Results suggest that in many areas , e.g. , school , work , and personality disorders , stimulant-treated hyperactives function significantly worse than matched normal controls but similar to untreated hyperactives . In some areas , e.g. , less car accidents , more positive view of childhood , later delinquency , and better social skills and self-esteem , stimulant-treated hyperactives did better than their untreated counterparts . Thus stimulant treatment for hyperactive children may not eliminate educational work or life difficulties , but may result in less social ostracism and improved feelings toward themselves and others
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 .