Symptoms in individuals with adult-onset ADHD are masked during childhood

Excerpt

The continuity of neurodevelopmental disorders from childhood to adulthood has garnered much attention. However, three studies have recently examined the possibility that adult-onset attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a separate neurodevelopmental disorder from childhood-onset ADHD [1‐3]. A cohort study [1] with 1037 participants found a 6% prevalence of childhood-onset ADHD and a 3% prevalence of adult-onset ADHD, with very little overlap. Moreover, other large-scale cohort studies [2, 3] have reported that a few patients met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD at both stages, suggesting that the causes of childhood-onset and adult-onset ADHD may differ and that the classification system for ADHD should be reconsidered. However, should the two forms of ADHD be regarded as separate disorders? …