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A Sobering Fact: ADHD Leads to Substance Abuse

2010; Elsevier BV; Volume: 50; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.jaac.2010.10.002

1527-5418

Timothy E. Wilens,

Treatment of Major Depression

The link between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and alcohol or drug abuse or dependence in adolescents and adults has been an area of increasing clinical, research, and public health interest. ADHD continues to be among the most common neurobehavioral disorders presenting for diagnosis and treatment in children. ADHD occurs in early childhood and affects 6% to 9% of juveniles and 4% to 5% of adults (for review, see Wilens and Spencer 1 Wilens T.E. Spencer T.J. Understanding attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder from childhood to adulthood. Postgrad Med. 2010; 122: 97-109 Crossref PubMed Scopus (169) Google Scholar ). Persistent from childhood into adulthood in approximately half of cases, ADHD is associated with learning disorders, psychiatric comorbidity, and substantial educational, occupational, and interpersonal impairments across the life span. 1 Wilens T.E. Spencer T.J. Understanding attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder from childhood to adulthood. Postgrad Med. 2010; 122: 97-109 Crossref PubMed Scopus (169) Google Scholar Substance use disorders (SUDs) usually occur in adolescence or early adulthood and affect 15% to 20% of American adults and a less defined but sizable number of juveniles. 2 Kessler R.C. Berglund P. Demler O. Jin R. Merikangas K.R. Walters E.E. Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005; 62: 593-602 Crossref PubMed Scopus (13848) Google Scholar What has been an intense area of research over the previous decade has been the link between ADHD and SUDs. The thorough and informative meta-analysis by Charach and associates 3 Charach A. Yeung E. Climans T. Lillie E. Childhood attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and future substance use disorders: comparative meta-analyses. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2011; 50: 9-21 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (347) Google Scholar has been very helpful in answering an important question: does ADHD really put you at risk for later SUDs?