Revisiting ADHD age-of-onset in adults: to what extent should we rely on the recall of childhood symptoms?
Open accessAbstract
Background ADHD diagnosis requires the presence of symptoms before the age of twelve. In clinical assessment of adults, the most frequent strategy to check this criterion is investigating self-report recall of symptoms, despite little evidence on the validity of this approach. We aim to evaluate the recall accuracy and factors associated with its reliability in a large population-based sample of adults. Methods Individuals from the 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort were followed-up from childhood to adulthood. At the age of 22, 3810 individuals were assessed through structured interviews by trained psychologists regarding mental health outcomes, including ADHD diagnosis and ADHD symptoms in childhood. The retrospective recall was compared with available information on ADHD childhood symptoms at the age of eleven. We also assessed factors related to recall accuracy through multiple regression analyses. Results Self-reported recall of childhood symptoms at 22 years of age had an accuracy of only 55.4%, with sensitivity of 32.8% and positive predictive value of 40.7%. Current inattention symptoms were associated with lower risk and social phobia with higher risk for false-positive endorsement, while higher levels of schooling correlated with lower risk and male gender with higher risk for false-negative endorsement. Conclusions Clinicians treating male patients with social phobia and ADHD symptoms should assess even more carefully retrospective recall of ADHD childhood symptoms. Moreove…
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Increasing evidence suggests that ADHD might also have its full clinical onset in adolescence.
“increasing evidence that ADHD might also have its full clinical onset in adolescence [13,14].”
From The decreasing prevalence of ADHD across the adult lifespan confirmed (2022) · cites this paper as [13]
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The decreasing prevalence of ADHD across the adult lifespan confirmed
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- Authors
- Breda, V., Rohde, L. A., Menezes, A. M. B., Anselmi, L., Caye, A., Rovaris, D. L., Vitola, E. S., Bau, C. H. D., & Grevet, E. H.
- Affiliations
- Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (BR)
- Universidade Federal de Pelotas (BR)
- Corresponding author
- Grevet, E. H.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychological Medicine
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2019-04-10
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 857-866
- ISSN
- 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8978
- OpenAlex
- W2939636704
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 3.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified)
- Locations
- Psychological Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lume (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (086974/Z/08/Z)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Keywords
- adult ADHD, age of onset, retrospective recall, diagnostic validity, inattentive symptoms, social anxiety disorder, educational attainment, gender differences, neurodevelopmental trajectories, Pelotas birth cohort
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Brazil, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Recall, Regression Analysis, Retrospective Studies, Reproducibility of Results, Age of Onset, Young Adult, Self Report
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