There is evidence that adults with ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) may be more likely to develop certain cardiovascular diseases. While the exact relationship between ADHD and cardiovascular health is still being studied, several factors may play a role.
Adults with ADHD are more likely to develop a variety of cardiovascular diseases than those who do not have the condition, according to a large observational study led by researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet and Rebro University. According to the researchers, the findings, which were published in the journal World Psychiatry, highlight the importance of monitoring cardiovascular health in people with ADHD.
With a global prevalence of around 2.5 percent in adults, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders. It frequently coexists with other psychiatric and physical disorders, some of which have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, whether ADHD is associated with overall and specific cardiovascular diseases has received less attention.
Clinicians must carefully consider psychiatric comorbidity and lifestyle factors to help reduce CVD risk in individuals with ADHD, but we also need more research to explore plausible biological mechanisms, such as shared genetic components for ADHD and cardiovascular disease.
Henrik Larsson
The current study aimed to uncover the link between ADHD and 20 different cardiovascular diseases when it was separated from other known risk factors such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, smoking, sleep problems, and mental disorders.
“We found that adults with ADHD were more than twice as likely to develop at least one cardiovascular disease, compared with those without ADHD,” says the study’s first author Lin Li, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet. “When we accounted for other well-established risk factors for CVDs, the association weakened but still remained significant, which indicates that ADHD is an independent risk factor for a wide range of cardiovascular diseases.”
The findings build on national registry data of more than five million Swedish adults, including some 37,000 people with ADHD. After an average 11.8 years of follow-up, 38 percent of individuals with ADHD had at least one diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, compared with 24 percent of those without ADHD.
The risks for all types of cardiovascular diseases were elevated, but especially for cardiac arrest, hemorrhagic stroke, and peripheral vascular diseases. The link was slightly stronger in men than in women. Some psychiatric comorbidities, particularly eating and substance use disorders, increased the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with ADHD significantly. Stimulants and other psychiatric drugs, such as antidepressants and anxiety medications, had no effect on the association between ADHD and cardiovascular disease.
The researchers point out that because the study was observational, the findings cannot establish a causal relationship.
“Clinicians must carefully consider psychiatric comorbidity and lifestyle factors to help reduce CVD risk in individuals with ADHD, but we also need more research to explore plausible biological mechanisms, such as shared genetic components for ADHD and cardiovascular disease,” says Henrik Larsson, professor at Rebro University’s School of Medical Sciences and affiliated researcher at Karolinska Institutet.
The study has some limitations, according to the researchers, including a lack of data on some lifestyle factors, such as diet and physical activity, which could influence the association.
