ADHD burden of illness in older adults: a life course perspective
Abstract
Purpose To explore the burden of illness and impact on patients' quality of life (QoL) experiences in older ADHD adults. Methods Telephone interviews were conducted with older adult participants diagnosed with ADHD later in life. Transcripts were analyzed following a grounded theory approach. Results Mean age of participants (N = 24) was 66 years, and mean age at diagnosis was 57 years; 68% were men and 63% reported other comorbid mental health conditions. ADHD symptoms reported were inattention (71%), impulsivity (58%), hyperactivity (54%), and disorganization (54%). The majority of participants (63%) experienced an accumulated lifetime burden of illness and reported being financially less-well-off, had lower educational achievement, job performance, and greater social isolation due to their ADHD. Older adults reported significantly greater impairments in productivity (P ≤ 0.02) and a better life outlook (P ≤ 0.05) than younger ADHD adults. Conclusions Older adults' QoL suffers from the accumulative negative impact of ADHD symptoms/impairments on their professional, economic, social, and emotional well-being.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Older adults with ADHD report more partnership problems, higher rates of being divorced or never married, more emotional and social loneliness, more financial problems and lower lifetime productivity, as well as reduced health-related quality of life and reduced satisfaction with life compared to older individuals without ADHD.
“For example, older adults with ADHD report about more partnership problems, higher rates of being divorced or never being married, more emotional and social loneliness, more financial problems and lower lifetime productivity, as well as a reduced health-related quality of life and reduced satisfaction with life compared to older individuals without ADHD (Michielsen et al. 2015; Brod et al. 2012; L”
From ADHD and associated psychopathology in older adults in a German community sample (2023) · cites this paper as Brod et al. 2012
Clinical presentation of ADHD may change with age, with inattentive symptoms becoming more prevalent than hyperactivity and impulsivity.
“Clinical presentation of ADHD may change with age, with inattentive symptoms becoming more prevalent than hyperactivity and impulsivity (Lensing et al., 2015;Brod et al., 2012).”
From Prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as Brod et al., 2012
Older patients and/or their medical care providers may have concerns about potential ADHD medication side effects because of older age, comorbid psychiatric and somatic disorders (in particular cardiovascular conditions), and interactions with other medications.
“Additionally, older patients and/or their medical care providers may have concerns regarding potential ADHD medication side effects due to older age, comorbid psychiatric and somatic disorders (in particular cardiovascular conditions), and interactions with other medications (Goodman et al., 2016;Lensing et al., 2015;Brod et al., 2012;Herrmann et al., 2008).”
From Prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as Brod et al., 2012
Cites
The Discovery of Grounded Theory; Strategies for Qualitative Research
Glaser, B. G., Strauss, A. L., & Strutzel, E. (1968) · Nursing Research · doi:10.1097/00006199-196807000-00014 · Cited by 39,449 · see citing works
The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (2017) · Aldine (Routledge reprint) · doi:10.4324/9780203793206 · Cited by 25,789 · see citing works
How Many Interviews Are Enough?: An Experiment with Data Saturation and Variability
Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006) · Field Methods · doi:10.1177/1525822x05279903 · Cited by 20,808 · see citing works
Social Relationships and Health.
Cohen, S. (2004) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.59.8.676 · Cited by 4,852 · see citing works
Prevalence and correlates of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: meta-analysis
Simon, V., Czobor, P., Bálint, S., Mészáros, Á., & Bitter, I. (2009) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.107.048827 · Cited by 1,601 · see citing works
Kollins, S. H., McClernon, F. J., & Fuemmeler, B. F. (2005) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.10.1142 · Cited by 369 · see citing works
Brod, M., Johnston, J., Able, S., & Swindle, R. (2006) · Quality of Life Research · doi:10.1007/s11136-005-8325-z · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Guldberg-Kjär, T., & Johansson, B. (2009) · Nordic Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/08039480902818238 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Quality of life in autism across the lifespan: A meta-analysis
van Heijst, B. F., & Geurts, H. M. (2015) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361313517053 · Cited by 460 · see citing works
Prevalence of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in older adults in the Netherlands
Michielsen, M., Semeijn, E., Comijs, H. C., van de Ven, P., Beekman, A. T. F., Deeg, D. J. H., & Kooij, J. J. S. (2012) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.111.101196 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
Dobrosavljevic, M., Solares, C., Cortese, S., Andershed, H., & Larsson, H. (2020) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.07.042 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Experienced consequences of being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult – a qualitative study
Hansson Halleröd, S. L., Anckarsäter, H., Råstam, M., & Hansson Scherman, M. (2015) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-015-0410-4 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Wietecha, L., Williams, D., Shaywitz, S., Shaywitz, B., Hooper, S. R., Wigal, S. B., Dunn, D., & McBurnett, K. (2013) · Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1089/cap.2013.0054 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Stress and work-related mental illness among working adults with ADHD: a qualitative study
Oscarsson, M., Nelson, M., Rozental, A., Ginsberg, Y., Carlbring, P., & Jönsson, F. (2022) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-022-04409-w · Cited by 45 · see citing works
“[33] report that participants described accumulated negative ADHD effects on educational achievements, job performance, and subsequent financial status.”
BackgroundADHD symptoms across the lifespan in a population-based Swedish sample aged 65 to 80
Guldberg-Kjär, T., Sehlin, S., & Johansson, B. (2013) · International Psychogeriatrics · doi:10.1017/s1041610212002050 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
The impact of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adulthood: A qualitative study
Watters, C., Adamis, D., McNicholas, F., & Gavin, B. (2018) · Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/ipm.2017.21 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Being different but striving to seem normal: The lived experiences of people aged 50+ with ADHD
Nyström, A., Petersson, K., & Janlöv, A.-C. (2020) · Issues in Mental Health Nursing · doi:10.1080/01612840.2019.1695029 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
ADHD and associated psychopathology in older adults in a German community sample
Müller, M., Turner, D., Barra, S., Rösler, M., & Retz, W. (2023) · Journal of Neural Transmission · doi:10.1007/s00702-022-02584-4 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
- Authors
- Brod, M., Schmitt, E., Goodwin, M., Hodgkins, P., & Niebler, G.
- Affiliations
- Brod Group (US)
- Institute on Aging (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Takeda (United States) (US)
- Corresponding author
- Brod, Meryl
- ORCID
- Brod, Meryl
- Venue
- Quality of Life Research
- Published
- 2011-07-30
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 795-799
- ISSN
- 0962-9343 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-2649
- OpenAlex
- W1978820857
- Cited by
- 135
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 5.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Quality of Life Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
- Keywords
- adult ADHD, older adults, disease burden, quality of life, life course, inattention, impulsivity, hyperactivity, disorganization, psychiatric comorbidity, social isolation, financial hardship, educational attainment, employee performance
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Interview, Psychological, Male, Middle Aged, Pilot Projects, Psychometrics, Quality of Life, Social Isolation, Stress, Psychological, Self Report
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
