Lifetime co-occurring psychiatric disorders in newly diagnosed adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or/and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Abstract

Background: Co-occurring psychiatric disorders in adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) contribute to the burden of the healthcare and possibly to the delay of diagnosis. Aim of the study was to clinically assess the prevalence and compare lifetime co-occurring psychopathology in a sample of newly diagnosed ADHD and/or ASD adults and discuss the diagnostic challenges they pose.Methods: The lifetime prevalence rates of ten of the most frequently co-occurring psychiatric diagnoses was registered in 336 adults of normal intelligence who underwent a thorough clinical evaluation for the diagnosis of ADHD and/or ASD for the first time in their lives. Four study groups were formed: the ADHD (n=151), the ASD (n=58), the ADHD+ASD (n=28) and the nonADHD/nonASD (NN) (n=88) group. Results: At least one co-occurring psychopathology was found in 72.8% of the ADHD group, in 50% of the ASD group, in 72.4% of the ADHD+ASD group and in 76.1% of the NN group (p=0.004). In all groups the most frequent psychiatric disorder was depressive disorder. The only significant difference regarding the patterns of psychiatric co-occurrence between the ADHD and the nonADHD groups (ASD and NN groups) was found for SUD (p=0.001). Also, the proportion of subjects with Bipolar Disorder was significantly greater in the NN group as compared to those with ASD (p=0.025). Conclusions: Our results support the high prevalence of co-occurring psychiatric disorders in adults with ADHD and/or ASD with the ASD group presenting the lowest rate. The most marked difference between the ADHD and the nonADHD groups was found for SUD. Moreover, our findings highlight the need for a thorough clinical assessment of all referred patients both in the presence and absence of ADHD and/or ASD.

Diagnostic progression to schizophrenia: A nationwide cohort study of 11 170 adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder

“…47 However, another two studies did not find a significant difference in the risk of psychotic disorders between the ASD + ADHD group and the ASDalone group. 46,48 Family history of schizophrenia or ASD The current study found that patients with ASD having a family history of schizophrenia were prone to developing schizophrenia, whereas those with a family history of ASD were not. This finding supports the multiple overlapping etiology model, which tried to explain the co-occurrence of ASD and schizophrenia.…”

“…Although ASD, ADHD, and schizophrenia share genetic susceptibility, the present study found that comorbid ADHD in patients with ASD was associated with a decreased risk of schizophrenia 39 . Research data on the co‐occurrence of schizophrenia and ASD with/without ADHD are still scarce 46 . A Norwegian population study reported that the ASD + ADHD group had higher risk of schizophrenia spectrum disorder than the ASD‐alone group 47 .…”

“…39 Research data on the co-occurrence of schizophrenia and ASD with/ without ADHD are still scarce. 46 A Norwegian population study reported that the ASD + ADHD group had higher risk of schizophrenia spectrum disorder than the ASD-alone group. 47 However, another two studies did not find a significant difference in the risk of psychotic disorders between the ASD + ADHD group and the ASDalone group.…”

Complexity analysis of the brain activity in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) due to cognitive loads/demands induced by Aristotle's type of syllogism/reasoning. A Power Spectral Density and multiscale entropy (MSE) analysis

“…The study was part of a larger research project on de novo diagnosed adults with ADHD and ASD (Pehlivanidis et al, 2020). The multi-disciplinary team that carries out all assessments consists of: psychiatrists who have extended experience in the diagnosis and treatment of Neurodevelopmental Disorders in adults and are trained in ADOS (Lord et al, 2012;Papanikolaou et al, 2009), ADI-R (Le Couteur et al, 2003;Papanikolaou et al, 2009) and DIVA (Kooij et al, 2019a;2019b); and clinical psychologists.…”

Helpful family climate moderates the relationship between perceived family support of ADHD symptoms and depression: a conditional process model

“…ADHD is commonly comorbid with depression. According to Pehlivanidis, psychiatric disorders, especially depressive disorders, are highly prevalent comorbidities of newly diagnosed adult ADHD [15]. The prevalence of depression in ADHD ranges from 18.6 to 53.3% [1,[16][17][18].…”