Follow-up study finds no added long-term quality of life benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy in adult ADHD, indicating that initial standard care drives sustained gains.
Key Points
To evaluate the long-term effects (4–8 years) of adding cognitive behavioural therapy to pharmacotherapy and psychoeducation on quality of life in adults with ADHD.
Follow-up study of 627 adults with ADHD from a prior cohort, with 159 participants completing the 4-to-8-year follow-up assessment.
Compared standard care (pharmacotherapy and psychoeducation) with or without adjunctive cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
Evaluated outcomes using the Adult ADHD Quality of Life scale (AAQoL) via linear mixed model analyses.
Linear mixed modeling showed no significant treatment effect or treatment-by-time interaction for total AAQoL or any subdomain, with no between-group difference in clinically meaningful improvements.
A significant effect of time was observed across all participants: AAQoL scores increased from baseline (pooled mean = 44.4; PsyEd: 46.4, PsyEd + CBT: 42.4) to post-treatment (69.3), then declined at follow-up (52.1) while remaining above baseline.