Conduct problems , gender and adult psychiatric outcome of children with attention - deficit hyperactivity disorder

Declaration of interest None. SupportedbyThe Danish Medical Council Research Foundation,Fru Hermansens Mindelegat and Rosalie Petersen Foundation. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the one most commonly diagnosed psychiatric condition in childhood (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). The disorder is much more common in boys than in girls (Arnold, 1996) and comorbid disorders are frequent (Spencer et al, 1999). The prognosis of these children has been investigated extensively, regarding later academic performance, self-esteem and social functioning in adolescence and young adulthood, but not regarding adult mental status (Mannuzza & Klein, 2000). The short-term follow-up studies of boys with ADHD have shown consistently that the most important predictors for poor adolescent outcome are comorbid conduct problems in childhood, low parental socioeconomic status and low IQ (Hechtman, 1999). No previous study has examined the adult outcomes of girls with ADHD.