population. 20 Based on these rates and current demographic data, it is estimated that at least 800,000 individuals in Australia are living with ADHD. 20 ADHD occurs more frequently in boys than in girls, 3, 4, 22 with the prevalence in boys almost twice that of girls, recorded at 10 % for boys and 5 % for girls. 4 ADHD represents one of the most common disorders in individuals that progress from childhood through adulthood. 2, 4, 5 Something to note is that between 2013 and 2020, the incidence of ADHD diagnoses among Australians more than doubled. 21
A retrospective cohort study in the United States examined the rates of new ADHD diagnoses among adolescents and adults in clinical settings from 2016 to 2023. 23 The study involved 144,103 patients. Among them, 16 % were adolescents and 84.0 % were adults. The average age of participants was 33.8
years( SD = 12.0). A large portion of the participants were female( 68.8 %) and identified as white( 82.2 %). The total incidence of new ADHD diagnoses during the observation period was 7.2 %, equivalent to 10,434 new diagnoses. 23 Overall, the study’ s findings highlight variations in ADHD incidence rates in recent years, with clear trends for both adolescents and adults. A decline in ADHD diagnoses was observed among adults from 2016 to 2020 and among adolescents from 2016 to 2018. The incidence rate for adolescents remained steady in the following years, while it increased for adults between 2020 and 2023. 23 By 2022-2023, around 470,000 individuals had been prescribed medications for ADHD, reflecting an increase of nearly 300 % over the span of a decade. 21 This significant rise, especially notable among adults, is ascribed to heightened public awareness, intensified by social media platforms. 21
Symptoms of ADHD
The symptoms of ADHD lead to clinically meaningful challenges related to attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity which do not align with an individual’ s chronological or developmental age. 20 Some of the symptoms of ADHD include inattention, 2, 4, 5, 22 impulsivity, 2, 4, 5, 22 and hyperactivity, 2, 4, 5, 22 along with emotional dysregulation, 6, 24 anxiety, 2, 20 depression, 20 bipolar disorder, 2, 20 learning difficulties, 2, 20 difficulties in reading, written expression or mathematics, 20 language disorders, 20 autism spectrum, 2, 20 oppositional defiant disorder, 20 Tourette’ s syndrome, 2 conduct disorder, 3 personality disorders, 2 schizophrenia, 2 substance use, 20 antisocial behaviour, 3 and epilepsy. 20
The symptoms of ADHD impair various areas of functioning in people with the condition, such as academic
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