ADHD Costs U.S. $77 Billion Each Year

One of the Costliest Conditions in the US

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder affects educational achievement, impacts employment, and causes lost work days due to stress, depression and other problems, according to a new analysis of a national large-scale survey, Capturing America’s Attention:

“ADHD, a life-long disorder, may be one of the costliest medical conditions in the United States,” said Joseph Biederman, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and Chief of Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Massachusetts General Hospital. “The same ADHD symptoms that may cause young patients to perform poorly in school or miss classes may also cause these patients, as adults, to lose a significant amount of income each year. The compelling results of this survey show that ADHD is a serious medical condition causing significant, life-long impairments. Evaluating, diagnosing and treating this condition may not only improve the quality of life, but may save adults with ADHD billions of dollars every year.”

Biederman and his colleagues found that adults with ADHD have a lower educational attainment and achievement than healthy adults — factors that not only significantly impact employment rates and income, but cause difficulties in the workplace as well. But even when the investigators accounted for educational attainment and achievement, they found the average loss of household income per adult with ADHD ranged from $8,900 to $15,400 per year, depending on the econometric model used. Over eight million adult Americans, or 4.3 percent of working-age adults, struggle with the inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity of ADHD. With this large-scale survey, researchers examined a weighted sample of 500 ADHD adults and 501 gender- and age-matched healthy adults that reflect the general U.S. population. They also accounted for personal and family characteristics, including characteristics closely tied to ADHD status, to arrive at the estimate of yearly household income losses due to the condition.

You can read more about the study and analysis in the original news release.

About ADHD

Although many people tend to think of ADHD as a childhood problem, up to 65 percent of children with ADHD may still exhibit symptoms into adulthood, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Although there is no cure for ADHD, physicians and advocates are finding ways to help people with the condition learn to adapt to their school, home, social and work settings. ADHD usually can be successfully managed with a combination of treatments, such as medication and structured coping techniques. Psychostimulants, medications that stimulate areas of the brain that control attention, impulses, and self-regulation of behavior, remain among the most successful treatments for people with ADHD. In fact, at least 70 percent of children with ADHD respond positively to psychostimulants. Medication should be considered part of an overall multi-modal treatment plan for ADHD. For further information on ADHD please visit www.adhdsupport.com, or www.NMHA.com.

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