A study has found that adults with ADHD may have reduced life expectancy due to lack of diagnosis and support.
Many struggle with managing their condition, facing social and health challenges that could be mitigated with better services. Researchers call for improved healthcare interventions to address this issue.
ADHD and Life Expectancy: A Troubling Discovery
A groundbreaking study led by researchers at UCL (University College London) suggests that adults diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have shorter life expectancies than expected.
Published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, the study examined anonymized primary care records from 30,029 adults in the UK diagnosed with ADHD. These individuals were compared to a control group of 300,390 adults without ADHD, matched by age, sex, and primary care provider.
The findings indicate that men with ADHD may live between 4.5 to 9 years less than their peers, while women with ADHD could experience a reduction in life expectancy of 6.5 to 11 years.
Senior author, Professor Josh Stott (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences), said: “It is deeply concerning that some adults with diagnosed ADHD are living shorter lives than they should.
Challenges Faced by Adults with ADHD
“People with ADHD have many strengths and can thrive with the right support and treatment. However, they often lack support and are more likely to experience stressful life events and social exclusion, negatively impacting their health and self-esteem.”
The study also found that fewer than one in nine adults with ADHD had been diagnosed – meaning that only a fraction of the total population of adults with ADHD could be studied.
Professor Stott added: “We know from studies of traits in the community and from studies of childhood diagnosis that the rate of ADHD in our sample is just a fraction of what it should be.”
Understanding ADHD and Its Effects
People with ADHD experience differences in the way they focus their attention. They often have high energy and an ability to focus intensely on what interests them. However, they may find it difficult to focus on mundane tasks.
This can lead to more impulsiveness, restlessness, and differences in planning and time management, which may make it harder to succeed at school and work, leading to longer-term challenges. ADHD is present from childhood and is increasingly recognized to persist in adults.
ADHD is under-treated in adults in the UK compared to in other high-income countries, and support is under-resourced.
This is the first time that researchers have estimated the life expectancy of UK adults diagnosed with ADHD.
Potential Overestimations in the Study
However, they note that because ADHD often goes undiagnosed – especially in adults – the new research may overestimate the reduction in life expectancy experienced by people with ADHD on average.
Lead author, Dr. Liz O’Nions (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences and Bradford Institute for Health Research), said: “Only a small percentage of adults with ADHD have been diagnosed, meaning this study covers just a segment of the entire community.
“More of those who are diagnosed may have additional health problems compared to the average person with ADHD. Therefore, our research may overestimate the life expectancy gap for people with ADHD overall, though more community-based research is needed to test whether this is the case.”
The Urgent Need for Better Support
At present, there is a lack of specialist services to support adults with ADHD in the UK.
For example, a previous national survey of adults aged 16-64 found that a third of those with ADHD traits were in receipt of medication or counseling for a mental health problem, compared to 11% of people without ADHD.
Nearly 8% of people who screened positive for ADHD reported that they had requested a particular mental health treatment in the past 12 months but had not received it, compared to only 1% of those who did not screen positive.
Implications for ADHD Treatment and Policy
This suggests that adults with ADHD are presenting to services, but services are not equipped to support them, even though the impact of ADHD and need to identify and treat it is recognized in NHS guidelines.
This is a leading concern, as treatment and support for ADHD is associated with better outcomes, such as reduced mental health problems and substance use.
Dr. O’Nions said: “Although many people with ADHD live long and healthy lives, our finding that on average they are living shorter lives than they should indicates unmet support needs. It is crucial that we find out the reasons behind premature deaths so we can develop strategies to prevent these in future.”
Study Limitations and Future Directions
The study data meant that the researchers did not have information regarding cause of death, so it was not possible to attribute years of lost life to different causes.
A lack of specialist services for adult ADHD assessment in the UK also means that diagnosed adults may overrepresent those who have co-occurring mental health and/or neurodevelopmental conditions, which could confound the results and lead to an overestimation of years of life lost.
The present findings may not generalize to other countries, time periods, or settings.
Reference: “Life expectancy and years of life lost for adults with diagnosed ADHD in the UK: matched cohort study” by Elizabeth O’Nions, Céline El Baou, Amber John, Dan Lewer, Will Mandy, Douglas G.J. McKechnie, Irene Petersen and Josh Stott, 23 January 2025, The British Journal of Psychiatry.
DOI: 10.1192/bjp.2024.199
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9 Comments
The title of this article is exceptionally misleading and clickbaity
The most likely explanation seems to me to be that ADHD medication is what is shortening everyone’s lives. Concerta and Adderall, for example, enormously increase heart rate and blood pressure (quite dangerous for anyone past middle age IMO), exacerbating and accelerating cardiovascular disease. This is the reason so many young people are trying to find alternatives to these risky treatments and wean themselves off them. Very surprised that this article (or the researchers themselves) seemed entirely unaware of the likeliness that the most common ADHD medications themselves are shortening lifespan, given that only ‘diagnosed’ patients are experiencing this lifespan reduction. Seems a no-brainer to me. It’s a huge concern of everyone living with ADHD.
Undiagnosed , as happened to me as a kid led low self esteem there for when I failed grade school I started drinking my parents beer at 12 years old .
I had an older sibling who put me down in a very competitive intelligent family.
It wasn’t till I did a ‘ reading comprehension ‘ class and realized I was reading, but not comprehending what I read, that I started to catch myself and began to learn not to drift mentally. From then on I was able to comprehend material that, as the article says, ‘ what I was interested in ‘, I truly learned in school and from my own reading interests.
The rest is a long story but as I approach my later life years I am I thankful to know what happened early in my life, and how it affected my later years.
Undiagnosed means they didn’t get meds, as far as I’m understanding the article.
Ok invictus idiomatic
Adderall does not increase my blood pressure and only minimally increases my heart rate. When used with individuals with valid ADHD diagnosed, the response is increased calm, energy, and quality of life. When abused by people without ADHD it increases their adrenal response and harms the people who really benefit from these medications. Please stop spreading uninformed mistruths about these valuable medications.
I was an avid reader myself and had no issues with basic math ie arithmetic up til very basic geometry then it becomes Greek to me. I was in a Special class because I was very hyper active though. As for us on average dying earlier than others do goes I, could careless were sick of suffering.
I soon loose concentration if I was spoken to for long,the bordemn of sitting down for long soon kicks in . My inability to hold down a job for long.
I see the inattentive type of ADHD within me. I also think the intensity of emotions I felt as a teenager, trying to fit in, the masking – trying to look like I knew what I was doing let alone saying without looking a fool were all factors that could have triggered the 1st time I had a seizure. The stress of being unable to focus for long whilst all these thoughts were just going round in my head.