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Researchers at the University of Southampton has carried out a major study aimed at assessing the relationship between tAttention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and asthma. To investigate the link, researchers carried out an analysis of 49 pre-existing datasets, including a total of 210,363 participants with ADHD and 3,115,168 without, followed by a new population-based cohort study of 1,575,377 individuals (259,253 with asthma and 57,957 with ADHD) from the Swedish national registers.
According to the analysis of the 49 datasets, the prevalence of asthma was 16·9% in individuals with ADHD and 11·5% in those without. The prevalence of ADHD was 8·8% in individuals with asthma and 5·6% in those without. Results were similar in the population-based study, where the prevalence of asthma was significantly higher in individuals with ADHD than in those without (24·8% vs 16·1%). Additionally, the prevalence of ADHD was significantly higher in individuals with asthma than in those without (5·5% vs 3·3%).
Awareness of the association between ADHD and asthma may lead ADHD specialists to promptly refer patients with early forms of asthma and, vice-versa, asthma specialists to promptly refer children with problems of inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity for appropriate assessment, reducing the diagnostic delay which is a concerning clinical and public health issue for both ADHD and asthma.