Adults who have ADHD could die up to 11 years earlier.
The condition, which often leads people to behave impulsively, can cause some to smoke, overeat and drink too much.
These behaviours may help to explain a study of 30,000 people with ADHD which found women diagnosed with the condition have a reduced life expectancy of about 6.5 to 11 years.
Men diagnosed with ADHD have a life expectancy which is around 4.5 to nine years shorter, researchers found.
An estimated three per cent of the population have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including the chef Jamie Oliver, I’m A Celebrity host Ant McPartlin and singer Lily Allen.
The condition, which affects time management skills, can also make it harder for people to attend doctors’ appointments on time, meaning they do not receive medical treatment when they need it.
Professor Josh Stott, from University College London, senior author of the study and a clinical psychologist who treats some people with ADHD, said: ‘A tendency to be more impulsive means people with ADHD may be more likely to eat to excess, smoke or drink more alcohol than they should.
‘Risk-taking behaviours can lead to a lower life expectancy.
An estimated three per cent of the population have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including the chef Jamie Oliver
The condition, which affects time management skills, can also make it harder for people to attend doctors’ appointments on time, meaning they do not receive medical treatment when they need it. Pictured, Lily Allen who has also revealed she has ADHD
‘We are also concerned that healthcare is not always tailored for people with ADHD, who may find it difficult to focus on their health symptoms during a 10-minute doctor’s appointment and thus miss out on health diagnoses and treatment.
‘However we did not look at the reasons why people in our study died, so more research is needed on these factors.’
The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, compared people diagnosed with ADHD from almost 800 GP surgeries to more than 300,000 people of a similar age without the condition.
Researchers tracked the deaths in each group of people using their health records.
Men with ADHD could expect to live to the age of about 73 years and three months on average, while men without the condition reached the age of 80.
Women with ADHD reached just over the age of 75 on average, compared to the age of almost 84 for women without the condition.
The study says ADHD could reduce life expectancy by up to nine years for men and up to almost 11 years for women because it is hard to be precise.
Most people are diagnosed with ADHD when they are young, and many people have not been diagnosed, which makes it harder to research.
The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, compared people diagnosed with ADHD from almost 800 GP surgeries to more than 300,000 people of a similar age without the condition. Pictured, I’m A Celebrity host Ant McPartlin, who also has ADHD
Fascinating graphs show how ADHD prescriptions have risen over time, with the patient demographic shifting from children to adults with women in particular now driving the increase
However researchers found evidence that men and women diagnosed with ADHD are more than twice as likely to smoke compared to people without the condition.
Men diagnosed with ADHD are more than twice as likely to drink a potentially harmful amount of alcohol, with women who have ADHD 76 per cent more likely to do so.
People with ADHD are far more likely to be suicidal or have serious mental illnesses, which experts say is partially because of their struggle to plan and focus on mundane tasks.
This, they say, makes it harder to hold down a job and can lead to financial problems and even homelessness.
Meanwhile unhealthy lifestyles linked to impulsive ADHD behaviours, like overeating, smoking and drinking too much, could explain the study finding a higher likelihood of diabetes high blood pressure, chronic respiratory disease and ischaemic heart disease among people with ADHD.
The hyperactivity experienced by people living with the condition could affect sleep, and a lack of sleep is linked to a greater risk of dying early.
Finally, risk-taking behaviours seen in ADHD may raise the risk of accidents such as car crashes.
Professor Stott said: ‘It is deeply concerning that some adults with diagnosed ADHD are living shorter lives than they should.
‘People with ADHD have many strengths and can thrive with the right treatment, such as rapid access to stop-smoking services and mental health support.’
ADHD begins in childhood but continues to affect around 90 per cent of adults, evidence suggests.
However the study did not include the hundreds of thousands of people in the UK estimated to have ADHD who have not been diagnosed.
Just including people diagnosed with ADHD may skew the results as people tend to be diagnosed because they are seeing doctors for other illnesses — and these illnesses tend to cut their lives short.
Commenting on the study, Philip Asherson, professor of molecular psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, said: ‘The precise causes of early death are not yet confirmed, but we know that ADHD is associated with higher rates of smoking, obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer among other health problems.
‘Adults with ADHD are more likely to engage in unhealthy habits such as binge eating or smoking, and risk-taking behavior.
‘There may also be biological links with autoimmune and other physical health disorders.
‘ADHD is increasingly recognised as a serious condition in adults associated with poor health outcomes.’
