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Childhood ADHD linked to obesity in adult men
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Results from a 33-year study suggest that men with childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder had an increased risk for developing obesity during adulthood vs. men without the disorder as a child.
“In this controlled, prospective longitudinal study, childhood ADHD in boys predicted significantly higher BMI and a twofold increase in obesity rates in adulthood, at a mean age of 41 years relative to men without childhood ADHD,” researchers wrote.
Samuele Cortese, MD, PhD, of the Phyllis Green and Randolph Cowen Institute for Pediatric Neuroscience and Verona University in Italy, and colleagues examined a cohort of 207 boys (mean age at referral, 8.3 years). The researchers conducted masked interviews on the patients at 18, 25 and 41 years of age.
Ultimately, 178 boys without ADHD were included at age 18 years; 111 men with childhood ADHD were included at age 41 years.
According to data, men with childhood ADHD demonstrated significantly greater BMI scores (30.1 vs. 27.6; P=.001) and obesity rates (41.4% vs. 21.6%; P=.001) compared with men without childhood ADHD.
Cortese and colleagues wrote that after adjustments for socioeconomic status and lifetime mental disorders, the differences continued. Moreover, men with persistent (n=24) and remitted (n=87) ADHD were not significantly different regarding BMI scores or obesity rates.
Further adjustments confirmed that men with remitted (but not persistent) ADHD displayed significantly greater BMI scores (P<.001) and obesity rates (OR=2.99; 95% CI, 1.55-5.77) compared with men without childhood ADHD, according to data.
“The finding of significantly higher BMI and obesity rates in men with childhood ADHD, compared with those without, suggests that childhood ADHD is a risk factor for obesity in adulthood, regardless of adult ADHD status,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: Cortese has received financial support to attend medical meetings from Eli Lilly and Company and Shire Pharmaceuticals and has been co-investigator in studies sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Company and Genopharm. He also reports consultancy for Shire Pharmaceuticals. All other researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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