Further evidence for the diagnostic continuity between child and adolescent ADHD

OBJECTIVE: To determine if there are differences in the clinical expression and correlates of ADHD between children and adolescents. METHOD: Subjects were 811 boys and girls aged 6 to 17 with ADHD, and 132 gender- and age-matched controls. Blind raters, using DSM-III-R structured diagnostic interviews and psychometric measures, assessed psychiatric diagnoses, intellectual performance, social disability, and school failure. RESULTS: Children and adolescents with ADHD had very similar patterns of outcome in multiple domains of assessment, including comorbidity with conduct, mood and anxiety disorders, and school functioning. There was some evidence that the rate of ODD was greater in adolescents compared to children, and that this difference was greater in the control sample. CONCLUSIONS: These findings document the diagnostic continuity of ADHD between childhood and adolescence and support the inclusion of adolescent samples in ADHD research protocols.