New Take on AD/HD in Adolescents

Many children with AD/HD do not outgrow the disorder, and require continued treatment as adults.

Doctors must wake up to the fact that most children with AD/HD do not outgrow the disorder once they hit puberty. So suggests a landmark review article on AD/HD that appears in the June 6, 2005, issue of Pediatrics. "In most cases," the authors write, "AD/HD does not resolve once children enter puberty. For the majority of children diagnosed with AD/HD, as many as 65 percent, the diagnosis persists into adolescence."

Traditionally, pediatricians have been extremely reluctant to treat AD/HD in teens. In part, this is because AD/HD treatment guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics did not address the issue of AD/HD in adolescents and young adults.

The Pediatrics study is titled "AD/HD Among Adolescents: A Review of the Diagnosis, Treatment, and Clinical Implications." It's extremely thorough - worth reading if your teenager or an adult you know has AD/HD. And be sure to mention it the next time a doctor tells you that kids outgrow AD/HD.

Read an abstract or purchase the study at pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/vol115/issue6.