A Rutgers study found that adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are around three times more likely to develop dementia than those without the disease.
The Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center director at Rutgers Brain Health Institute (BHI), Michal Schnaider Beeri, coauthored the study, which was published in JAMA Network Open. In order to determine if persons with ADHD are more likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, this study monitored more than 100,000 older adults in Israel over the course of 17 years.
Despite the fact that ADHD affects more than 3% of adult Americans, little is known about this population.
“By determining if adults with ADHD are at higher risk for dementia and if medications and/or lifestyle changes can affect risks, the outcomes of this research can be used to better inform caregivers and clinicians,” said Beeri, the Krieger Klein Endowed Chair in Neurodegeneration Research at BHI and a faculty member of the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research.
Using data from a national cohort study of more than 100,000 people who were followed from 2003 to 2020, researchers analyzed those with and without ADHD and the occurrence of dementia among the groups as they aged. Researchers found the presence of adult ADHD was associated with a significantly higher risk of dementia even when other risk factors for dementia were taken into account, such as cardiovascular conditions.
ADHD in adults may materialize as a neurological process that reduces the ability for them to compensate for the effects of cognitive decline later in life, researchers said.
“Physicians, clinicians and caregivers who work with older adults should monitor ADHD symptoms and associated medications,” said Abraham Reichenberg, a professor at the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and senior author of the study.