An exploratory clinical study of adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder from India

Although adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is well recognized in western countries, there are no reports of adult ADHD from India. Therefore, this study was planned to identify ADHD in adults in an Indian psychiatry outpatient setting and elicit its phenomenology and co-morbidities.

A total of 283 adults were screened using Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale-v1.1 (ASRSV1.1) screener. Screen positives were evaluated on ASRSv1.1 symptom checklist, World Mental Health Survey Initiative Version of the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI) and by clinical assessments. DSM-IV-TR and Wender-Utah criteria were used for diagnosis.

Twenty five men (mean age +/- SD, 23.4 +/- 5.6 yr) were diagnosed as having adult ADHD. The subjects' most common presentations were of losing temper and poor academic performance. The most common ADHD symptoms were difficulty in sustaining attention, easy distractibility, often losing things, and blurting out answers. A majority (80%) of the subjects had one or more psychiatric co-morbidity like oppositional defiant disorder, major depressive disorder and substance abuse/dependence.

Adult ADHD can be diagnosed in an Indian psychiatry outpatient setting. ADHD adults infrequently presented with the core symptoms of the disorder and had high psychiatric co-morbidity rates.