ReviewBMC women's health2025
Integrative literature review - the impact of ADHD across women's lifespan.
Review in BMC women's health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exploring the association between maternal attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and obstetric complications: a danish population-based register study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Observational
- Whose voice is heard? Mental health professionals' involvement, epistemic injustice, and the ethics of psychiatric advance directives.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAttention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and associated comorbidities in women are poorly recognised and often late diagnosed or misdiagnosed. This has significant negative impacts on the health and wellbeing of girls and women across their lifespan.
aimThis integrative literature review aims to synthesize existing studies on the impacts of ADHD and associated comorbidities, as well as the challenges of delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosis for women and girls, focussing on critical life stages such as adolescence, perinatal, postnatal and (peri)menopause. Additionally, this review aims to identify evidence-based strategies for improving diagnosis, treatment, and support for this vulnerable population.
methodsAn integrative literature review was conducted using Whittemore and Knafl's framework. Searches were performed in Embase, Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PubMed, National Library of Medicine (Medline), Scopus and Google Scholar (March - April 2025). Studies were selected based on defined inclusion and exclusion criteria, focussing on women and girls diagnosed with ADHD and their experience regarding diagnosis, comorbidities and treatment outcomes, were peer-reviewed, and published in English. Data was managed in Covidence and appraised using MMAT and AGREE II.
resultsThe review identified and included ten studies (five qualitative, four cohort, one mixed-methods) and one guideline, published between January 2023 - April 2025, revealing five key developmental domains: Childhood and adolescence - late diagnosis and early comorbidities, Adulthood - hormonal impacts and comorbidities, Perinatal period - outcomes and challenges, Menopause and later life - hormonal transitions and late diagnosis, Cross-developmental treatment considerations - evidence gaps and women-specific approaches. Girls and women with ADHD frequently experience delayed diagnosis, leading to heightened risk of anxiety, depression and maladaptive coping strategies. Hormonal fluctuations were found to exacerbate ADHD symptoms, particularly during critical developmental phases such as puberty, the perinatal period, menopause and later life. Highlighting the need for tailored assessment, treatment and care approaches.
conclusionThe findings highlight the urgent need to improve awareness of specific ADHD presentations in women and girls and better training for healthcare providers, aiming for earlier diagnosis and comprehensive individualised, tailored treatment strategies. Future research should focus on understanding the interplay between ADHD and its comorbidities, as well as exploring sex specific treatment options to improve health outcomes for women with ADHD.
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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.