ADHD is actually more common than you might realise.

It was first described about 100 years ago but is no more prevalent now, just better recognised. 

The incidence of ADHD is approximately the same across all countries and races. Globally, ADHD affects 2%-5% of all children. In New Zealand, an estimated 280,000 Kiwis have ADHD.*

ADHD is not sexist

• Previously, it was thought that males were more likely to have ADHD than females.
• While more males get a diagnosis it's now believed the gender ratio is 1:1.
• This is because young females often present with the predominantly inattentive presentation which is less noticeable. So they're more likely to be overlooked.​

ADHD occurs in all ethnic and socioeconomic groups

• It usually runs in families.
• Of the teenagers who continue to have ADHD, approximately one in 10 will grow out of it by adulthood.**
• Approximately 25% of all children with ADHD will have a parent with ADHD.

A lot of parents who have children assessed and diagnosed with ADHD begin to wonder if they are part of the 25% of parents with a child of ADHD who also has it.

So you can grow out of ADHD behaviour/symptoms?

• This isn't to say that those who grow out of it won't still experience behaviours consistent with ADHD but on reassessment, they would no longer experience them enough to warrant a diagnosis.

​* New Zealand Ministry of Health, 2020
​** Margaret H. Sibley, Ph.D., L. Eugene Arnold, M.D., James M. Swanson, Ph.D., Lily T. Hechtman, M.D., Traci M. Kennedy, Ph.D., Elizabeth Owens, Ph.D., Brooke S.G. Molina, Ph.D., Peter S. Jensen, M.D., Stephen P. Hinshaw, Ph.D., Arunima Roy, Ph.D., Andrea Chronis-Tuscano, Ph.D., Jeffrey H. Newcorn, M.D., Luis A. Rohde, M.D., Ph.D., for the MTA Cooperative Group, Variable Patterns of Remission From ADHD in the Multimodal Treatment Study of ADHD, The American Journal of Psychiatry, August 2021

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