Bariatric Surgery Is Highly Effective and Underutilized in Patients with ADHD: A 5-Year Retrospective Cohort Study

Obesity and ADHD have become increasingly common diagnoses. In the last decade, research has found that there is a high prevalence of obesity in patients with ADHD. The mainstays of management in the general population include lifestyle modifications, pharmacotherapies, and/or bariatric surgery. However, there is a lack of understanding of appropriate management of patients with both ADHD and obesity.

We identified those with obesity for at least five consecutive years (BMI > 30) in the TriNetX database before separating into two groups based on the presence or absence of ADHD. We assessed both the distribution of treatment modalities and the change in average BMI over time in each of our four groups across 5 years.

Average BMI decreased over time in all groups, with the smallest change seen in the ADHD Pharmacology cohort (- 0.366 kg/m²) and the largest in the ADHD Surgery group (- 8.532 kg/m²). Average BMIs at the 5-year mark were significantly different.

Our research found that pharmacological management of individuals with ADHD was only half as effective for individuals with ADHD than our control. Though surgical management of patients with ADHD is roughly 20 times more effective in managing obesity, it was not used as frequently in comparison to medication for management of weight.