October 15, 2024More than half of individuals with ADHD — and significantly more women than men — were diagnosed in adulthood, according to new data published in the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).1 These findings constitute the CDC’s first update on the prevalence and age of diagnosis for ADHD in nearly 20 years.The CDC report, which found that 6 percent of U.S.
adults have a current ADHD diagnosis, identified several gender-based discrepancies regarding the age of diagnosis. Sixty-one percent of women received their ADHD diagnosis during adulthood, compared to 40 percent of men.
One-quarter of women received an ADHD diagnosis before age 11, compared to 45 percent of men.“Taken together, these data highlight the significant public health burden of ADHD and challenges experienced by adults with this diagnosis,” said Greg Mattingly, M.D., president of the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD), and Ann Childress, M.D., past president of APSARD, in an article published in Psychiatric Times.2The MMWR analyzed data collected from the National Center for Health Statistics Rapid Survey System (RSS) from October through November 2023 on the prevalence, treatment barriers, and telehealth usage of adults with ADHD.Once considered a childhood condition, ADHD is now recognized as one of the most common mental health conditions in adults, affecting men and women almost equally.