According to a new CDC report, one in 16 adults in the US lives with ADHD.
It found that 15.5 million people over the age of 18 suffered from the condition (6 per cent), which as a percentage is much higher than in other countries. such as the United Kingdom, where approximately 4.4 percent of adults suffer from the disorder, or Germany, where it is 3 percent.
The new report was the first national estimate of ADHD in adults in decades, so the CDC spokesperson said they cannot confirm whether diagnoses have increased.
But experts told DailyMail.com that what they see in their clinics is clear: more people are coming in for checkups and ADHD diagnoses are increasing overall.
This has to do with a number of factors, including misdiagnoses in childhood, experts tell DM.com. Separate figures show that one in seven Americans under the age of 18 is diagnosed with the condition, which is also much higher than in peer countries.
Adult ADHD diagnosis rates in the US appear to be higher than in other Western nations, reflecting similar trends seen in children.
Dr Justin Barterian, a psychologist at Ohio State University, told DailyMail.com: “I think the number of people seeking a diagnosis has increased, which has resulted in more diagnoses.”
They suggest this has to do with a number of factors including: the explosion of telehealth making it easier to test for ADHD, increased awareness of the disorder through social media influencers, and adults who are curious after see their children diagnosed with the condition. .
Worldwide, approximately two to five percent of adults suffer from ADHD, and the United States tends to be on the high end.
In Canada, estimates place the rate between 4 and 6 percent, while in Germany and Denmark rates are about 3 percent. the most recent french estimates They are about 5.5 percent.
The new data comes from the National Center for Health Statistics’ Rapid Survey System, which calls people at their homes and asks them to self-report their health data.
Their goal is to obtain a sample large and diverse enough to reflect the demographic makeup of the United States.
Prior to this report, current estimated rates of ADHD in adults were based on data from 2003.
However, older reports have found that prescriptions for ADHD medications like Adderall have steadily increased. In 2021, 41 million prescriptions were filled.
At the same time, Dr. Barterian said he and his colleagues have seen an influx of new patients seeking ADHD testing. He said that at other clinics, doctors have made patients wait months before getting tested.
Their report defined more details about what life is like for people living with ADHD. More than half of these individuals are diagnosed as children.
About 62 percent of all cases occur in people who are currently between 25 and 49 years old.
It found that a third of those people (about 5 million) use medications like Adderall to control their symptoms. But 71.5 percent of people reported difficulty filling their prescriptions, largely thanks to worker shortages at pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Dr Barterian said this affected patients at his clinic, who then had difficulty functioning at work, concentrating at school or even doing household chores.
Still, there are 36 percent of people who do not seek any treatment for their diagnosis.
Adderall prescriptions have increased steadily over the past 12 years. Figures include prescriptions for Adderall, brand and generic, in the US.
Although the CDC report seemed to be in line with what doctors are experiencing in the clinic, Dr. Barterian cautioned that using a self-reported survey could cause some errors in the data.
For example, someone might have responded that they had ADHD when they had not yet confirmed that diagnosis with a doctor. Or, someone with ADHD could have left out that information when taking the survey.
This means that the numbers found here could be higher or lower than we know.
Dr Rebecca Mannis, a learning specialist who studied neuropsychology and helps train people with learning challenges such as ADHD and dyslexia, told DailyMail.com that this condition is probably increasing in adults because they were not diagnosed when they were older. youths.
“ADHD is overdiagnosed and underdiagnosed,” he said. This means that there are some people who were diagnosed with this condition when they might have had another condition, such as autism or anxiety.
But others are still ignored, if they are good enough to cope with their symptoms and go unnoticed.
These people, who avoided detection as children, sometimes develop greater problems concentrating or managing tasks as adults, and then end up coming to her office, where she helps them learn time management skills.