A large study at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has found a link between ADHD and dementia across generations. The study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, shows that parents and grandparents of individuals with ADHD were at higher risk of dementia than those with children and grandchildren without ADHD.
“The findings suggest that there are common genetic and/or environmental contributions to the association between ADHD and dementia. Now we need further studies to understand the underlying mechanisms,” says the study’s first author Le Zhang, PhD student at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet.
ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention, impulsiveness and hyperactivity. It affects an estimated 3 percent of adults…