Chapman Lauren, Gupta Kanak, Hunter Myra S, Dommett Eleanor J
King's College London, UK.
J Atten Disord. 2025 Dec;29(14):1263-1277. doi: 10.1177/10870547251355006. Epub 2025 Jul 30.
Interest in the role of female hormones in ADHD has grown in recent years and, with an increasing number of women diagnosed with ADHD later in life, it is important hormonal changes across the lifespan are considered. This exploratory study examines the relationships between ADHD status (diagnosis and medication use) and symptoms, and menopause stage (pre/peri/post) and symptoms.
Employing a cross-sectional approach, we recruited a sample of 656 women aged 45 to 60 years, of which 245 had an existing diagnosis of ADHD. Women completed several questionnaires assessing their ADHD symptoms (Adult Self-Report Scale, ASRS) and menopausal experiences (Women's Health Questionnaire, WHQ; Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire, MENQoL; Hot Flush Rating Scale, HFRS; Hot Flush Related Daily Interference Scale, HFDIS).
ANCOVA revealed no significant effects of an ADHD diagnosis or interaction effects between diagnosis and menopause stage after applying an FDR correction. Similarly, when medication was considered (i.e., non-ADHD, ADHD with medication, and ADHD without medication) there were no main effects of group or interaction effects with menopause stage.
These results indicate women with ADHD do not experience greater menopausal complaints than women without at any menopausal stage. However, there were significant correlations between ADHD symptoms and menopausal complaints across all participants but at a group level, these were less prominent in those with ADHD, which could indicate different attribution of symptoms in women with ADHD. Future research should further explore menopause in women with ADHD considering longitudinal designs and qualitative studies to examine potential overlap of symptoms and symptom attribution.
近年来，人们对女性激素在注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）中的作用兴趣日增，且随着越来越多的女性在晚年被诊断出患有ADHD，考虑一生中的激素变化很重要。这项探索性研究考察了ADHD状态（诊断和药物使用）与症状之间，以及绝经阶段（绝经前/围绝经期/绝经后）与症状之间的关系。
我们采用横断面研究方法，招募了656名年龄在45至60岁之间的女性样本，其中245人已被诊断患有ADHD。女性完成了几份问卷，评估她们的ADHD症状（成人自我报告量表，ASRS）和更年期经历（女性健康问卷，WHQ；更年期特定生活质量问卷，MENQoL；潮热评分量表，HFRS；潮热相关日常干扰量表，HFDIS）。
协方差分析显示，在应用错误发现率（FDR）校正后，ADHD诊断没有显著影响，诊断与绝经阶段之间也没有交互作用。同样，在考虑药物使用情况时（即非ADHD、使用药物的ADHD和未使用药物的ADHD），组间没有主效应，与绝经阶段也没有交互作用。
这些结果表明，患有ADHD的女性在任何绝经阶段都不会比未患ADHD的女性经历更严重的更年期不适。然而，在所有参与者中，ADHD症状与更年期不适之间存在显著相关性，但在组水平上，这些相关性在患有ADHD的女性中不太明显，这可能表明患有ADHD的女性症状归因不同。未来的研究应考虑采用纵向设计和定性研究，进一步探索患有ADHD的女性的更年期情况，以检查症状的潜在重叠和症状归因。
