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New study associates ADHD with shorter life expectancy

ADHD: What you need to know

A new study that looked at people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, has found a correlation between people with the disorder and a shorter life expectancy.

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News Center 7′s Nick Foley spoke with Dr. Fadi Tayim about the study.

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Tayim is the Division Chief at Premier Health’s brain mapping center. He and other experts are learning about a new study that found men with ADHD have a reduced life expectancy of four and a half to nine years, and while women with ADHD could see a reduced life expectancy of six and a half to 11 years.

“We get a lot of referrals now from primary care for adults with ADHD,” Tayim said.

While the study doesn’t list a cause for the reduced life expectancy, Tayim says people with ADHD often have other issues that can lead to health problems.

“A lot of it could be substance abuse issues, too, which are heavily linked to ADHD as well as other developmental disorders,” Tayim said. “It’s not unique to ADHD, however substance abuse does go along particularly high with ADHD, as well as other serious mental illnesses, like bipolar disorder.”

People with ADHD can often have trouble planning or focusing. According to Tayim, these can lead to a number of other problems down the road. While the study seems alarming, Tayim says there is a lot more to learn.

“My biggest takeaway is that there is more research that’s necessary to create a causal thing between ADHD and a shorter life expectancy, because now it seems like a lot of confounding variables can also lead to the same thing,” Tayim said.

Tayim says ADHD is highly treatable with therapy and medication. Area physicians can help anyone who feels they or loved ones may be living with the condition.

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