Adult ADHD linked to elevated risk of cardiovascular diseases
Adults with ADHD are at greater risk of developing a range of cardiovascular diseases than those without the condition, according to a large observational study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Örebro University in Sweden. The researchers say the findings, published in the journal World Psychiatry, underscore the need to monitor cardiovascular health in people with ADHD.Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders, with a global prevalence of around 2.5 percent in adults. It often exists in parallel with other psychiatric and physical conditions, some of which have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). But whether ADHD is independently associated with overall and specific cardiovascular diseases has not received as much attention.In the current study, the researchers sought to unmask the correlation between ADHD and some 20 different cardiovascular diseases when separated from other known risk factors such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, smoking, sleep problems and mental disorders.?We found that adults with ADHD were more than twice as likely to develop at least one cardiovascular disease, compared with those without ADHD,? says the study?s first author Lin Li, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet. ?When we accounted for other well-established risk factors for CVDs, the association weakened but ...
