ADHD-related symptoms among adults in out-patient psychiatry and female prison inmates as compared with the general population

Abstract

Objective: To compare the prevalence of symptoms consistent with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related problems in adults in the general population, out-patient psychiatry (where females are in majority), and female convicts.

Method: A questionnaire based on the DSM-IV criteria of ADHD, reported childhood symptoms, reading and spelling problems, difficulties and suffering, and general assessment of functioning (GAF) was distributed to samples of the general population, open care psychiatry, and female prison inmates. Completed questionnaires were received from 517/1000, 349/400, and 50/65 of the three samples, respectively.

Results: Symptoms consistent with ADHD were more than three times higher in out-patient psychiatry than in the general population (6.6% versus 2.1%), with a male-to-female ratio of 1.6-1.7. The severity of symptoms and frequencies of associated disabilities were similar in men and women. ADHD symptoms and related problems occurred in 50% of the female prisoners, which is similar to male prisoners according to the literature.

Conclusion: The high prevalence of symptoms and disabilities of ADHD in women should lead to awareness of the disorder in both sexes and be addressed in terms of diagnostic work-up, treatment, and rehabilitation.

Figure 1.

Difficulties (A) and Suffering (B) attributed to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related symptoms as assessed by the study participants on two separate visual analogue scales (VAS) (see Methods). The numbers of participants in different groups are given within brackets. The differences between Hyperactive versus Not hyperactive groups both for the general population (Gen pop) and the out-patient (Out-pat) samples are statistically significant (P < 0.001 in most cases). The differences are most pronounced for the group with both childhood and adult hyperactivity. The levels of difficulties and suffering in the out-patient sample were significantly higher (P < 0.001) than in the general population both for the Hyperactive and Not hyperactive group except for the subgroups with both childhood and adult symptoms.