Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet and Örebro University in Sweden found that adults with ADHD are more likely than those without the condition to develop a variety of cardiovascular diseases. The findings, which were reported in the journal World Psychiatry, according to the researchers, highlight the importance of keeping an eye on the cardiovascular health of ADHD patients.
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders, affects approximately 2.5 percent of adults worldwide.It frequently coexists with other physical and mental disorders, some of which have been connected to an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, there hasn’t been as much focus on whether ADHD is independently linked to general and specific cardiovascular diseases.
When type 2 diabetes, obesity, smoking, sleep disorders, and mental disorders were removed from the study, the researchers sought to reveal the relationship between ADHD and about 20 different cardiovascular diseases.
According to research by Lin Li, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Karolinska Institutet and the study’s first author, adults with ADHD were more than twice as likely to experience at least one cardiovascular disease as those without ADHD. The association “weakened but remained significant when we controlled for other well-established risk factors for CVDs, suggesting that ADHD is an independent risk factor for a wide range of cardiovascular diseases,” the authors write.
The research is based on information from the national registry of more than 5 million Swedish adults, including 37,000 people with ADHD. 38 percent of people with ADHD had at least one diagnosis of cardiovascular disease after an average of 11.8 years of follow-up, compared to 24 percent of people without ADHD.
All forms of cardiovascular disease carried increased risks, but cardiac arrest, hemorrhagic stroke, and peripheral vascular disease carried particularly high risks. The association was a little stronger in men than in women. The risk of cardiovascular disease in people with ADHD was significantly increased by some psychiatric comorbidities, particularly eating and substance use disorders. The link between ADHD and heart disease did not change when people took stimulants or other psychiatric drugs like antidepressants or anxiety pills.
The researchers say that because the study was an observational one, the results can’t prove a cause-and-effect link.
Henrik Larsson, professor at the School of Medical Sciences at Rebro University and affiliated researcher at Karolinska Institutet, is the study’s final author. “Clinicians need to carefully consider psychiatric comorbidity and lifestyle factors to help reduce the CVD risk in individuals with ADHD, but we also need more research to explore plausible biological mechanisms, such as shared genetic components for ADHD and cardiovascular disease,” he says.
The researchers say that the study has some flaws, such as the lack of information on lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise, that might affect the link.
The Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Brain Foundation, the Swedish Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare, and the Swedish Society for Medical Research have all provided funding for this project. It has also been helped by the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program of the European Union.
