ADHD in childhood linked to depression in adolescence
By ANISaturday, October 9, 2010
WASHINGTON - A new study has found that young children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at greater risk for adolescent depression and/or suicide attempts five to 13 years after diagnosis.
Sixteen to 37 percent of clinically-diagnosed adults with ADHD also suffer from major depressive disorder and/or dysthymia (a mild form of depression).
Andrea Chronis-Tuscano, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland, College Park, and colleagues studied 125 children between the ages of 4 and 6 who met medically-diagnosed criteria for ADHD, and 123 demographically matched children without ADHD in Chicago and Pittsburgh.
Children in both groups underwent follow-up assessments until age 18.
The authors found that children diagnosed with ADHD between the ages of 4 and 6 were at greater risk for depression between the ages of 9 and 18.
Additionally, 17 of 248 children had reported having a specific suicidal plan at least once during this same time period.
“A total of 18.4 percent of children and adolescents with ADHD and 5.7 percent of comparison children and adolescents made at least one suicide attempt by assessment year 14,” the authors said.
Additionally, the findings indicate that girls are at a greater risk for depression and suicide attempts.
The report was published in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. (ANI)
