OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to assess whether the diagnosis of
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is retained from childhood
into adulthood. METHOD: A search of the literature yielded nine prospective
studies in which cohorts of children with the disorder were formed and then
reexamined 4-16 years later to determine the level of retained ADHD. The
resulting data were subjected to nonlinear regression analysis to ascertain
the relationship with chronological age. RESULTS: The data followed an
exponential decline over time to a high degree of accuracy. CONCLUSIONS:
The rate of ADHD in a given age group appears to decline by 50%
approximately every 5 years. If a prevalence of ADHD in childhood of 4% is
assumed and the exponential decline extrapolated, the estimated rate of
adult ADHD ranges from about 0.8% at age 20 to 0.05% at age 40.Abstract Teaser