Childhood ADHD, Gender, Obesity Interlinked

The team found that women who had childhood ADHD were two times more likely to be obese in adulthood when compared to women who were never diagnosed with ADHD.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be twice as likely to increase the risk of adult obesity for females when compared to male counterparts, according to a recent study. Stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall was generally prescribed in case of ADHD but the study team found no link between stimulant use and obesity.

There have been several indications there may be a link between childhood ADHD and obesity so researchers at the Mayo Clinic conducted a study to investigate whether there was indeed an association between developing obesity and having a diagnosis of ADHD. “Girls with ADHD may not be able to control their eating and may end up overeating”, she explained.

The study showed that women who had ADHD in their childhood had double the risk to become obese in their adult years regardless of whether they used treatment for the condition or not.

There was a smaller and nonsignificant trend in the same direction for boys, said Seema Kumar, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues.

Girls with ADHD were significantly more likely than their controls to become obese by their mid-20s (hazard ratio 2.02; 95% CI 1.13-3.60; P=0.02).

The report was published February 4 in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. A study in 2012 indicated the difference in severity of symptoms between boys and girls at different ages. Girls suffer by being distracted with issues such as depression with ADHD.

Researcher kumar proposed that girls with ADHD should be advised and counseled thoroughly with regular intervals in their childhood and adulthood so that they can minimize the after affect. Maintaining a healthy diet and regulating an active life are such measure to be taken in order to deal with this scenario. In addition, the increased resting energy expenditure in boys with the hyperactive/impulsive type of ADHD might be protective against weight gain, they suggested.

The researchers collected data from 336 children diagnosed with ADHD who were born between 1976 and 1982.

Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to medical research and education, and providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. Girls were often misdiagnosed since their symptoms were taken for something else such as day-dreaming or being a “Chatty Kathy” or a ‘Tomboy’.

There is a need for greater awareness regarding the association between ADHD and obesity in females among patients, caregivers and health care providers, Dr. Kumar adds.

Drugs to combat the condition had no effect on the risk of obesity, the researchers found, suggesting it is a result of the lifestyles of those with the condition.