WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A study of more than 187,000 older adults has found that people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have more than four times the risk of developing dementia or mild cognitive impairment.
The study was led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and published in JAMA Psychiatry. The team used medical and genetic data from the US National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Program to examine the relationship between ADHD and cognitive decline.
All participants were at least 50 years old at the start of the study. Their medical records covered an average of about 10 years, with data collected between 1985 and late 2023.
Among the 187,341 participants, 3,026 had an ADHD diagnosis recorded in their medical history. To ensure the diagnoses were reliable, researchers required evidence of ADHD on multiple occasions through repeated diagnoses or separate records of medication use.
The team then examined how many participants developed mild cognitive impairment or dementia over time.
Researchers also considered other factors that could influence the results, including physical and mental health conditions, education, smoking habits and the frequency of doctor visits. They also checked whether early symptoms of dementia might have been mistaken for ADHD.
The findings showed that 6.7% of participants with ADHD developed cognitive impairment during the study period, compared with 3.4% of those without the condition.
Despite the higher risk, most participants with ADHD did not develop memory or thinking problems during the period covered by their medical records. The researchers stressed that having ADHD does not mean a person will inevitably develop dementia.
The team also studied genetic information to determine whether inherited factors could help explain the connection. They calculated polygenic risk scores, which combine information from several common genetic variations linked to ADHD to estimate a person's genetic susceptibility.
Participants with the highest genetic risk scores had a 35% higher risk of developing dementia than those with the lowest scores. This association was also found among people who had never been diagnosed with ADHD, suggesting that shared genetic factors may contribute to the link between ADHD and cognitive decline.
However, the researchers noted that genetic risk scores have limitations. Some genetic variations associated with ADHD are also linked to other mental health and developmental conditions. Therefore, the scores may reflect a broader range of genetic influences rather than ADHD alone.
Overall, the study suggests that ADHD and certain genetic factors may be associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline in later life. Further research is needed to understand this relationship and determine whether people with ADHD may benefit from closer monitoring of their memory and thinking abilities as they age.
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