Biederman J, Faraone S V, Spencer T, Wilens T, Norman D, Lapey K A, Mick E, Lehman B K, Doyle A
Pediatric Psychopharmacology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 02114.
Am J Psychiatry. 1993 Dec;150(12):1792-8. doi: 10.1176/ajp.150.12.1792.
Although attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a common disorder of childhood, its status as a disorder in adults is not clear. The authors reasoned that if the adult diagnosis of the disorder is a valid clinical entity, it should be similar to the childhood disorder with regard to patterns of psychiatric and cognitive findings.
Eighty-four adults with a clinical diagnosis of childhood-onset attention deficit hyperactivity disorder confirmed by structured interview who were referred for treatment were studied. Findings were compared with those from a preexisting study group of referred children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, nonreferred adult relatives of those children who also had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and adults without the disorder who were relatives of normal children. Subjects were evaluated with a comprehensive battery of psychiatric, cognitive, and psychosocial assessments.
The referred and nonreferred adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were similar to one another but more disturbed and impaired than the comparison subjects without the disorder. The pattern of psychopathology, cognition, and functioning among the adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder approximated the findings for children with the disorder.
These results show that referred and nonreferred adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have a pattern of demographic, psychosocial, psychiatric, and cognitive features that mirrors well-documented findings among children with the disorder. These findings further support the validity of the diagnosis for adults.
尽管注意力缺陷多动障碍是一种常见的儿童期疾病，但其在成人中的疾病状态尚不清楚。作者推断，如果该疾病的成人诊断是一个有效的临床实体，那么在精神和认知表现模式方面，它应该与儿童期疾病相似。
对84名经结构化访谈确诊为儿童期起病的注意力缺陷多动障碍且前来接受治疗的成人进行了研究。将研究结果与一个先前存在的研究组进行比较，该研究组包括前来就诊的患有注意力缺陷多动障碍的儿童、那些患有注意力缺陷多动障碍儿童的未就诊成年亲属，以及正常儿童的成年亲属且这些成年亲属没有该疾病。通过一系列全面的精神、认知和社会心理评估对受试者进行评估。
患有注意力缺陷多动障碍的前来就诊和未就诊的成人彼此相似，但比没有该疾病的对照受试者有更多的困扰和功能损害。患有注意力缺陷多动障碍的成人的精神病理学、认知和功能模式与患有该疾病的儿童的研究结果相近。
这些结果表明，患有注意力缺陷多动障碍的前来就诊和未就诊的成人具有一系列人口统计学、社会心理、精神和认知特征，这些特征与患有该疾病的儿童中充分记录的结果相似。这些发现进一步支持了成人诊断的有效性。
