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Accident patterns in trauma surgery patients with and without self-reported ADHD

  • Psychiatry and Preclinical Psychiatric Studies - Original Article
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Abstract

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with a higher risk for accidents and injuries, leading to increased mortality. The objective of this study was to identify the types and mechanisms of accidents in a group of adult trauma victims with self-reported ADHD compared to a control group, based on Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale Version 1.1 (ASRSv1.1). A semi-open/qualitative accident questionnaire was conducted with 116 recruited patients from three trauma surgery units. The adult ADHD (aADHD) group differed significantly from the control group in self-reported psychiatric co-morbidities (p = 0.012), regular psychotropic medication use (p = 0.005), other accidents in the past year (p = 0.002), substance use before the accident (p = 0.007), and overconfidence in relation to the accident (p = 0.033). Most interestingly, we found significantly greater subjective ratings for stress (p = 0.002) and stressful/pressurising events before the accident (p = 0.026) in the adult ADHD group, as well as for self-reported stress at the time when conducting the interview (p = 0.016). The data demonstrate that special attention should be paid to interventions in stress reduction and sufficient treatment of ADHD in terms of preventing accidents and injuries in aADHD. Therefore, we suggest, in addition to pharmaceutical therapy, the integration of stress-management and coping strategies into aADHD management.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the staff members of the Occupational Accident Clinic [Berufsgenossenschaftliche Unfallklinik (BGU)] Frankfurt, the Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery and Department of Oral, Dental and Cosmetic Facial surgery, University Hospital of Frankfurt as well as all patients for participation.

Funding

This study, as part of the Prevalence of Adult Attention Deficit/-Hyperactivity Disorder in Accident Victims (PrADA) study of the Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, was funded by Medice Arzneimittel Pütter GmbH & Co KG. The Sponsor receives the data from the study only as cumulative, anonymized results in the form of a publication, and had no influence on study design and interpretation.

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  1. Andreas Reif and Sarah Kittel-Schneider contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Heinrich-Hoffmann-Str. 10, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Sarah Wolff, Kristin Queiser, Leonie Wessendorf, Anna Maria Meier, Moritz Verdenhalven, Oliver Grimm, Andreas Reif & Sarah Kittel-Schneider

  2. Occupational Accident Clinic Frankfurt (Berufsgenossenschaftliche Unfallklinik, BGU), Friedberger Landstraße 430, 60389, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Christoph Reimertz

  3. Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Christoph Nau

  4. Department of Oral, Maxillofacial and Plastic Facial Surgery, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Michelle Klos

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  1. Sarah Wolff
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Correspondence to Sarah Kittel-Schneider.

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Conflict of interest

AR has received speaker’s honoraria from Medice, Shire, Servier, Janssen and Neuraxpharm as well as grant support from Medice. SKS has received author’s and speaker’s honoraria as well as travel costs from Medice Arzneimittel and travel costs from Shire. All other co-authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

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Wolff, S., Queiser, K., Wessendorf, L. et al. Accident patterns in trauma surgery patients with and without self-reported ADHD. J Neural Transm 126, 1163–1173 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-019-02011-1

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