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The heritability of clinically diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder across the lifespan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2013

H. Larsson ,
Z. Chang ,
B. M. D'Onofrio  and
P. Lichtenstein
H. Larsson*
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Z. Chang
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
B. M. D'Onofrio
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
P. Lichtenstein
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
*
* Address for correspondence: Dr H. Larsson, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, PO Box 281, Stockholm SE-171 77, Sweden. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

No prior twin study has explored the heritability of clinically diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Such studies are needed to resolve conflicting results regarding the importance of genetic effects for ADHD in adults. We aimed to estimate the relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences for clinically diagnosed ADHD across the lifespan with a specific focus on ADHD in adults.

Method

Information on zygosity and sex was obtained from 59514 twins born between 1959 and 2001 included in the nationwide population-based Swedish Twin Registry. Clinical data for ADHD diagnoses (i.e. stimulant or non-stimulant medication for ADHD) were obtained from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register (PDR) and from the National Patient Register (i.e. ICD-10 diagnosis of ADHD). Twin methods were applied to clinical data of ADHD diagnoses using structural equation modeling with monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins.

Results

The best-fitting model revealed a high heritability of ADHD [0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.83–0.92] for the entire sample. However, shared environmental effects were non-significant and of minimal importance. The heritability of ADHD in adults was also substantial (0.72, 95% CI 0.56–0.84).

Conclusions

This study shows that the heritability of clinically diagnosed ADHD is high across the lifespan. Our finding of high heritability for clinically diagnosed ADHD in adults indicates that the previous reports of low heritability are best explained by rater effects, and that gene-identification studies of ADHD in adults need to consider pervasiveness (e.g. multiple raters) and developmentally (e.g. childhood-onset criteria) informative data.

Keywords

ADHDadultsheritabilitytwin study
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 44 , Issue 10 , July 2014 , pp. 2223 - 2229
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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