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Health records link ADHD to more than fourfold higher risk of later cognitive impairment

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Health records link ADHD to more than fourfold higher risk of later cognitive impairment

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A new study led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers finds that adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) face a significantly higher risk of developing dementia or mild cognitive impairment later in life. The research, published today in JAMA Psychiatry, also found that people who carry a higher genetic risk for ADHD face a greater chance of cognitive decline even without a documented diagnosis.

Researchers analyzed health records and genetic data from more than 187,000 adults age 50 and older enrolled in the National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Program and found that 6.7% of participants with ADHD developed dementia or cognitive impairment, compared with 3.4% of those without ADHD. After accounting for factors like age, sex and other health conditions, researchers found that people with ADHD had more than four times the risk of developing cognitive impairment over time.

The researchers also calculated each participant's genetic risk score for ADHD, a measure that reflects how much a person's common genetic variants are associated with ADHD, regardless of whether they were ever formally diagnosed. People with the highest genetic risk had a 35% greater chance of developing dementia than those with the lowest risk.

"This doesn't prove that ADHD causes dementia, but seeing the same pattern show up independently in medical records and in people's genes gives us greater confidence that the association is not simply an artifact of how ADHD gets diagnosed," said senior author Tharick A.


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