Parental age and the risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a nationwide, population-based cohort study
Open accessAbstract
Objective An increasing number of studies has shown an association between parental age and psychiatric disorders. However, there are inconsistent results regarding whether age at parenthood is associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The aim of this study is to examine whether low or advanced parental age is associated with ADHD.Method In this nested case-control study, we identified 10,409 individuals with ADHD born in Finland during 1991 to 2005 and diagnosed with ADHD between 1995 and 2011, along with 39,125 controls matched on sex, date, and place of birth, from nationwide population-based registers. Conditional logistic regression was used to examine the association between parental age and ADHD in offspring, adjusting for potential confounding due to parental psychiatric history, maternal socioeconomic status, marital status, maternal smoking during pregnancy, number of previous births, and birth weight for gestational age.Results Fathers younger than 20 years had a 1.5-fold (odds ratio [OR] = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.11-2.18, p = .01) increased risk of having offspring with ADHD as compared to fathers aged 25 to 29 years. Mothers of the same age group had a 1.4-fold (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.15-1.72, p =.0009) increased risk. Advanced maternal age was inversely associated with ADHD (OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.64-0.97, p = .02).Conclusion ADHD was associated with young fathers or mothers at the time of birth. Health professionals working with young parents should be aware of the increased risk of ADHD in offspring. This will improve early detection; however, for the development of preventive measures and appropriate interventions, more information on the developmental pathways is needed.
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Large studies from Sweden, Finland, and a consortium of eight European countries found that ADHD was more likely among children of teenage mothers than among children of older mothers.
“large studies from Sweden (Chang et al., 2014a), Finland (Chudal et al., 2015) and a consortium of eight European countries (Pohlabeln et al., 2017) each found ADHD to be more likely among children of teenage mothers than among children of older mothers.”
From The World Federation of ADHD International Consensus Statement: 208 Evidence-based conclusions about the disorder (2021) · cites this paper as Chudal et al., 2015
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- Authors
- Chudal, R., Joelsson, P., Gyllenberg, D., Lehti, V., Leivonen, S., Hinkka-Yli-Salomäki, S., Gissler, M., & Sourander, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Turku (FI)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Venue
- Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-06
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 487-494.e1
- ISSN
- 0890-8567 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1536420150
- Semantic Scholar
- 6a55f87c01caeefc18a04229be8a4faea12f345d
- Cited by
- 75
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 5.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- STM:n Hallinnonalan avoin julkaisuarkisto (Julkari) (submittedVersion)
- WOS
- Funders
- Universitetet i Tromsø
- Helsingin Yliopisto
- National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
- Turun Yliopisto
- Turun Yliopistollinen Keskussairaala
- Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Keywords
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, parental age, advanced paternal age, advanced maternal age, young parents, offspring risk, smoking during pregnancy, birth weight for gestational age, prenatal risk factors
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Birth Weight, Female, Finland, Gestational Age, Humans, Male, Maternal Age, Middle Aged, Paternal Age, Pregnancy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Cohort Studies, Logistic Models, Odds Ratio, Case-Control Studies, Early Diagnosis, Young Adult
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