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The Socioeconomic Burden of Adult ADHD

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The Burden of Adult ADHD in Comorbid Psychiatric and Neurological Disorders

Abstract

ADHD is a condition affecting 4% of adults worldwide, with evidence from literature documenting its persistence even in the elderly, causing them additional impairment to the normal aging effects on cognitive functions.

There is currently a debate on whether the development of Information Technologies (IT) has affected the alleged excessive increase in ADHD diagnosis, and there is evidence supporting both the considerable impact that IT has determined on our way of processing information, and its role on the growing knowledge of a disorder that was considered only a childhood problem.

Although there are some reports indicating the existence of some positive traits in people with ADHD, it remains a disorder causing a deleterious impact on the lives of people affected as well as on those of their partners. In addition to the widely recognized impairments associated with ADHD, including academic failure, self-esteem problems, and interpersonal relationship difficulties, people with ADHD also have a greater risk of being involved in criminal situations, facing unplanned pregnancies, getting a sexually transmitted disease, and of suffering from several health problems as a result of their maladaptive lifestyle habits, such as excessive cigarette consumption, impulsive and dysregulated eating leading to obesity, hypertension, and diabetes 2. Moreover, ADHD impulsivity appears to play an important role in the early mortality that characterizes this population, not only because of excessive smoking, frequent substance use, and high rate of car crashes, but even because of the high risk for suicide.

Studies examining the economic impact of ADHD in children/adolescents found ADHD annual national costs ranging between 1041 and 1529 million euros, with ADHD-related costs of 9860–14,483 euros per patient. A similar study performed in the United States reported a total annual national cost of ADHD ranging between $143 and $266 billion, with 73% of such amount due to the costs of adult patients.

In this chapter, we report the socioeconomic consequences of adult ADHD and the most frequent co-occurrent health problems. We also mention those health conditions for which research is still in its infancy, but that clinicians should know since they could hide an unrecognized ADHD. The aim is to underline the importance of identifying ADHD in order to prevent the adverse health outcomes and reduce socioeconomic costs that an undiagnosed and untreated ADHD can impose to our society.

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Pallanti, S., Salerno, L. (2020). The Socioeconomic Burden of Adult ADHD. In: The Burden of Adult ADHD in Comorbid Psychiatric and Neurological Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39051-8_1

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