ReviewCanadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie2015
Is Adult Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Being Overdiagnosed?
Review in Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 74 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cognitive characterization of adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder by domains: a systematic review.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2021Pooled it
- Trends and patterns of medical stimulant use by US adults.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Commentary on Sources of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Overdiagnosis Among U.S. Adults.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Neurocognitive Characteristics of Patients Who Visited a Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic Requesting Treatment for Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.Psychiatry investigation · 2024Article
- Prevalence and Comorbidities of Adult Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder in a Community Sample from Korea.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Potential Inflammatory Biomarker in Patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Attentive-executive functioning and compensatory strategies in adult ADHD: A retrospective case series study.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Management of ADHD in Prisoners-Evidence Gaps and Reasons for Caution.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- ADHD overdiagnosis and the role of patient gender among Iranian psychiatrists.BMC psychiatry · 2021Article
- ADHD, financial distress, and suicide in adulthood: A population study.Science advances · 2020Article
- Validation of an EMR algorithm to measure the prevalence of ADHD in the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN).BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2020Article
- Diagnoses of Cardiovascular Disease or Substance Addiction/Abuse in US Adults Treated for ADHD with Stimulants or Atomoxetine: Is Use Consistent with Product Labeling?Drugs - real world outcomes · 2018Article
- Trends in use of prescription stimulants in the United States and Territories, 2006 to 2016.PloS one · 2018Article
- Overdiagnosis across medical disciplines: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2017Article
- Article
- Adult ADHD: Questioning Diagnosis and Treatment in a Patient with Multiple Psychiatric Comorbidities.Case reports in psychiatry · 2017Article
- Adult Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is Being Overdiagnosed.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2016Article
- Re: Is Adult Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Being Overdiagnosed?Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2016Article
- Adult Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is Hard to Diagnose and is Undertreated.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2016Article
- Brain mechanisms of temporal processing in impulsivity: Relevance to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.Brain and neuroscience advancesReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This review offers a perspective on the question as to whether attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is being overdiagnosed in adults. Considering underlying causes as well as consequences, we conclude that the diagnosis of adult ADHD should be made cautiously, making use of multiple sources of information, including self-report, clinical interviews, collateral information, childhood documentation, and neuropsychological testing. Routine screening with symptom checklists is insufficient, and stimulant response is diagnostically uninformative. The causes of overdiagnosis may include changes in diagnostic thresholds, poor diagnostic practices, and advertising by the pharmaceutical industry. Overdiagnosis leads to overtreatment, and dramatic increases in prescriptions for adult ADHD during the last decade should arouse concern.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.