Prevalence of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder among adults in obesity treatment

BackgroundBariatric patients showing poor "focus" during treatment more often failed to lose weight or maintain reduced weight. Evaluation of these patients identified a number having attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), evidently a potent factor limiting successful weight control. After searches found no published reports describing comorbid ADHD and obesity, this report was conceived to begin exploring the prevalence and characteristics of these patients.MethodClinical records of 215 patients receiving obesity treatment during 2000 were reviewed. Data collected and analyzed included age, sex, beginning and ending body mass index (BMI), number of clinic visits, months of treatment, and diagnostic category (ADHD, some ADHD symptoms, non-ADHD). DSM-IV criteria were used, except age of onset was modified to <= 12 years.ResultsWhole sample ADHD prevalence was 27.4% (CI:21.1,32.9), but 42.6% (CI: 36.3% to 48.9%) for BMI >= 40. Mean weight loss among obese patients with ADHD (OB+ADHD) was 2.6 BMI (kg/m2) vs. 4.0 for non-ADHD (NAD) (p < 0.002). For BMI >= 40, OB+ADHD had BMI loss 2.9 vs. 7.0 (NAD) (p < 0.004). OB+ADHD had more clinic visits, with a trend toward longer treatment duration.ConclusionsADHD was highly prevalent among obese patients and highest in those with extreme obesity. Comorbid obesity and ADHD symptoms rendered treatment less successful compared to NAD counterparts. Reasons for the comorbidity are unknown, but may involve brain dopamine or insulin receptor activity. If replicated in further studies, these findings have important implications for treatment of severe and extreme obesity.

• Publication year

  2002

• Venue

  BMC Psychiatry

• Publication date

  2002-09-13

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1186/1471-244X-2-9PMID 12227832PMCID 130024
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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