New Study Shows a Links of Adult ADHD with Other Diseases

Jul, 2021 - By SMI

Researchers studied people’s medical record with ADHD and observed the associations between adult ADHD and other hazardous health conditions.

A recent study demonstrates that some four million patients suffering from adult ADHD had a higher risk of being exposed to variety of other dangerous diseases. These diseases consist of hazards in respiratory system, nervous system, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal and metabolic conditions. The study was carried out by researchers at the Karolinska Institutet from the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatics in Stockholm. There is a wide range of 35 different diseases that are correlated to adult ADHD conditions, and out of 35 diseases, only arthritis shows no correlation with adult ADHD condition.

The researchers selected the medical records of nearly 4.8 million Swedish people and analyzed them for ICD (International Classification of Diseases) diagnoses. Further, they used logistic regression modeling to evaluate the linkage between adult ADHD and 35 physical disease conditions in those individuals. Each linkage was demonstrated as an odds ratio (OR). The strongest associations were with alcohol-related liver disease (OR 4.70), fatty liver disease (OR 2.94), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR 3.24), epilepsy (OR 2.99), sleep disorders (OR 4.62), and obesity (OR 2.67). Rheumatoid arthritis (OR 1.08) was the only condition that didn’t show any significant correlation. The outcomes were similar between females and males irrespective of the race on an individual.

Since ADHD is perceived to associate with 70-80% heritable, the researchers speculated that underlying hereditary conditions might be the reason for ADHD and other physical conditions. However, the manner in which these insights are determined, it's not really exact to suppose that an individual with ADHD is 4.62 times bound to experience the ill effects of sleep disorder, though it's more precise to say that a patient determined to have sleep disorder were 4.62 times bound to have an ADHD diagnosis as well.