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1 in 13 People with ADHD May Have Comorbid Bipolar Disorder
Approximately 1 in 13 adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has comorbid bipolar disorder, while nearly 1 in 6 adults with bipolar disorder has comorbid ADHD, according to a study in the journal Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.
“These numbers are strikingly high,” researchers wrote. “Given the published lifetime prevalence for ADHD of 6.5% and a lifetime bipolar disorder prevalence of 1–2% … one could tentatively estimate that, based on the few population based studies included in this meta-analysis, comorbid bipolar disorder and ADHD could occur in around 0.12% of the population, or up to 0.38% if taking into account the smaller studies …
“Although speculative, this rate would correspond to nearly 4 million affected people in the combined population of the European Union and the United States.”
ADHD Comorbidities Complicate Diagnosis of the Disorder
The study is believed to be the first systemic review with meta-analysis to quantify the degree of comorbidity between ADHD and bipolar disorder in adults. The investigation included 71 studies with 646,766 participants from a total 18 countries.
Although meta-analysis found 1 in 13 patients with ADHD were also diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and nearly 1 in six patients with bipolar disorder BD were also diagnosed with ADHD, the rates were heterogenous and varied among continents, cultures, and diagnostic classification systems, researchers reported. Regardless, they added, clinicians should take note that nearly 8% of their patients with ADHD could be at risk for bipolar disorder.
Compared with people without ADHD, bipolar disorder onset occurred about 4 years earlier in people with ADHD, the study found.
“Our study highlights that clinicians should be aware of this diagnostic co-occurrence, which can have important implications for diagnostic specification and potentially treatment,” researchers concluded.
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