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Medical disorders in a Danish cohort of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

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Abstract

Studies have identified a higher prevalence of co-existing psychiatric and medical disorders in children with ADHD. There is a shortage of longitudinal studies providing an overview of potential medical disorders in children with ADHD. The objective of this study was to provide a broad overview of lifetime prevalence and relative risk of medical disorders in a nationwide Danish cohort of children with and without ADHD during the first 12 years of life. A population-based prospective follow-back cohort study used data from Danish national health registries to identify a cohort of all children born in Denmark between 1995 and 2002. The children were followed from birth until 12 years of age in two national registries. Children with ADHD had a significantly higher prevalence of recorded diagnoses across all included chapters of medical disorders in the ICD-10, except for neoplasms, where the association with ADHD was non-significant. The highest relative risk was observed for the chapter concerning diseases of the nervous system, with episodic and paroxysmal disorders being the most frequently registered underlying category. The findings indicate that children with ADHD have an increased risk of a broad range of medical disorders compared to the general population during the first 12 years of life, except for neoplasms.

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Abbreviations

ADHD:

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

ADD:

Attention-deficit disorder

DMBR:

Danish medical birth registry

DPCRR:

Danish psychiatric central research register

DNPR:

Danish national patient register

ICD-10:

International classification of diseases 10th-edition

RR:

Relative risk

CI:

Confidence interval

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Funding

No funding was received for this manuscript. The authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Nursing Research Unit, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark

    Britt Laugesen

  2. Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Britt Laugesen, Marlene Briciet Lauritsen & Christina Mohr-Jensen

  3. Research Unit for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark

    Marlene Briciet Lauritsen, Emil Færk & Christina Mohr-Jensen

Authors
  1. Britt Laugesen
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  2. Marlene Briciet Lauritsen
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  3. Emil Færk
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  4. Christina Mohr-Jensen
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Contributions

BL conceptualized and designed the study, applied for the data from the nationwide health registries, interpreted and discussed the results of the statistical analysis, drafted the initial manuscript, and reviewed and revised the manuscript. MBL conceptualized and designed the study, coordinated and supervised the collection of data from the nationwide health registries, interpreted and discussed the results of the statistical analysis and critically reviewed the manuscript. EF conceptualized and designed the study, performed the data management and statistical analysis, interpreted and discussed the results of the statistical analysis and critically reviewed the manuscript. CMJ conceptualized and designed the study, coordinated and supervised the collection of data from the nationwide health registries, interpreted and discussed the results of the statistical analysis, aided in drafting the initial manuscript, and reviewed and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Britt Laugesen.

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Conflict of interest

Dr. Mohr Jensen has received speaker fees from Medice Nordic and Icepharma. The other authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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Laugesen, B., Lauritsen, M.B., Færk, E. et al. Medical disorders in a Danish cohort of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 31, 349–359 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01693-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01693-3

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