Mapping the phenotypic and etiological associations between ADHD and physical conditions in Swedish adulthood: a genetically informed registry study

DOI: https : //doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00171-1

Commentary

Emerging evidence on ADHD, a neurodevelopmental disorder, suggests that people with this disorder are at increased risk for several physical health conditions. Only a few relevant studies have been conducted, and they were aimed at investigating the phenotypic and etiological associations between ADHD and a wide range of physical health conditions across adulthood.

A registry survey was conducted in Sweden to identify pairs of full siblings and maternal half-siblings born between January 1, 1932, and December 31, 1995, through population and multigenerational registries. Diagnoses were considered as lifetime presence or absence, and logistic regression models were used to estimate associations between ADHD (exposure) and 35 physical conditions (outcome) across individuals, sibling pairs.

As a result, 4,789,799 individuals were identified, 4,288,451 sibling pairs, and 1,841,303 family clusters were included. The mean age at the end of follow-up was 47 years, and ethnicity data were not included.

Participants with ADHD were shown to be at higher risk for most physical conditions compared to those without.

The strongest association was for neurological disorders, followed by respiratory disorders. Gender stratified analysis showed that there were no gender differences, and for neurological, respiratory, musculoskeletal, and metabolic disorders, there was a stronger cross-disability association between all siblings than between half-siblings.