{"id":796322,"date":"2026-10-08T21:16:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T21:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/796322\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T21:16:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T21:16:21","slug":"the-health-condition-adults-with-adhd-are-four-times-more-likely-to-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/796322\/","title":{"rendered":"The health condition adults with ADHD are four times more likely to experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Independent<\/p>\n

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.<\/p>\n

Join today<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Already a member?
\n Log in<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)<\/a> could be more vulnerable to experiencing memory and thinking problems in later life, according to findings from a new study.<\/p>\n

Experts have urged regular “monitoring” for older adults living with the condition after discovering a “markedly” heightened risk of cognitive impairment.<\/p>\n

The investigation explored diagnosis rates among people with ADHD<\/a> alongside associated genetic risk factors tied to the condition.<\/p>\n

Academics analysed medical data belonging to 187,341 adults in the US who were aged 50 or over.<\/p>\n

Roughly 1.6 per cent of the participants, representing 3,026 individuals, held a formal ADHD diagnosis.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ExpertsExperts called for adults with ADHD to have \u2018monitoring\u2019 as they age after finding a \u2018markedly\u2019 increased risk of cognitive impairment (PA)<\/p>\n

After tracking participant health records for an average of seven years, researchers found that 6.7 per cent of those with ADHD<\/a> were diagnosed with cognitive impairment, compared to 3.4 per cent without the condition.<\/p>\n

Led by a team from the University of Pittsburgh in the US, the study also evaluated participants’ ADHD polygenic risk scores, which analyse genetics to gauge an individual’s likelihood of developing the condition.<\/p>\n

They found that people who have genetic links to the condition were also more likely to be diagnosed with cognitive impairment.<\/p>\n

The team of academics concluded that ADHD was associated with a more than four-fold higher risk of cognitive impairment.<\/p>\n

\u201cADHD was associated with a markedly increased risk of late-life cognitive impairment,\u201d the authors wrote in the journal Jama Psychiatry.<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cThese findings support ADHD as a relevant factor in later-life cognitive health and call for clinical guidelines recommending cognitive monitoring in adults with ADHD, while recognising that the mechanisms and causal nature of this association remain to be established.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes as a major review into ADHD, autism and mental health in the UK<\/a> is to be published.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe team of academics concluded that ADHD was associated with a more than four-fold higher risk of cognitive impairment<\/p>\n

The review, launched in December last year, examined rates of diagnosis and the support offered to people from mental health, ADHD and autism services.<\/p>\n

An interim report from the review team, chaired by Professor Peter Fonagy, found that there could be \u201cmultiple factors\u201d behind a rise in diagnosis rates for autism and ADHD, including improved recognition of the conditions, rising distress among young people, \u201cinstitutional incentives and pressures within existing service pathways\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of the final report Prof Fonagy has insisted \u201cit\u2019s harder to be young now\u201d, telling the BBC that there has been a real rise in mental health problems among young people and saying he will call for support to be improved.<\/p>\n

He said the report \u201cdismisses the idea of a snowflake generation\u201d and that the NHS is \u201cnot fit for purpose\u201d as too many young people are left on waiting lists for long periods for mental health support.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere a report published by the Children\u2019s Commissioner in June found that more than a million children \u2013 around one in 10 \u2013 in England were referred for, awaiting or getting treatment from mental health services in the 12 months to March 2025.<\/p>\n

And in August, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman<\/a> warned that people with ADHD and autism are \u201cfalling through the gaps\u201d as services are \u201cunder significant pressure\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ombudsman Paula Sussex said that children and adults with ADHD and autism face \u201clong waiting times, variations in access and fragmented care\u201d as demand for care is outstripping capacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-796322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}