The study focus' on the minority group of individuals that continue to have symptoms of ADHD into adulthood, but found overall that 70% of the study population were successful, "normal" adults.
Having said that, the study's goal seems to be improving continuous care coverage for the remaining study participants, and the ADHD sufferers that carry the diagnosis into adulthood.
In this study, about 30% of the children continued to have symptoms of ADHD into adulthood (this study followed them to the age of 27) and also found most of them had additional psychiatric issues including substance abuse, depression or anxiety disorders.
They also found that this population were also 5xs more at risk for suicide than those from the general population. 3% of the people followed in the study were incarcerated during the study follow-ups.
What does this all mean? It means that ADHD is a serious, chronic condition that requires follow up care and lifelong monitoring (for some of it's sufferers) , according to study physicians.
The development of associated disorders and substance abuse to deal with symptoms in adulthood when not monitored or addressed properly has dire and direct negative consequences to those who have ADHD as children.
"When it comes to treatment, ADHD warrants the same approach as chronic health problems such as diabetes, Barbaresi says. In those cases, "when a child is diagnosed, we immediately institute strategies aimed at keeping the child engaged in appropriate treatment for the long haul."
For many reasons, including "a huge problem with regard to health care coverage of appropriate assessment and treatment ... that's not really happening at a systematic level with ADHD," he says."
Read the whole article here at USA TODAY Childhood ADHD News
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