Older adults with ADHD are at greater risk for traffic tickets and car accidents than their counterparts without the condition.
Researchers in five US states studied more than 2,800 adults between the ages of 65 and 79, 75 of whom had been diagnosed with ADHD. They found that adults with the condition were more than twice as likely to receive a traffic ticket and 74 percent more likely to be involved in a car accident.
Based on their findings, the researchers called for better treatment options for older adults with ADHD, which affects more than 40 million Americans and has led to twice as many prescriptions for medications to treat the condition such as Adderall in recent years.
“These findings suggest that effective interventions to improve the diagnosis and clinical management of ADHD in older adults are warranted to promote safe mobility and healthy aging,” the study authors wrote.
Older adults with ADHD were more than twice as likely to receive a parking ticket and three-quarters more likely to be involved in a car accident than their counterparts without the condition
Prescriptions for Adderall have skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2020, just before the virus broke out across America, the drug made up 1.1% of all medications. By September 2022, this figure had more than doubled to 2.31% of all scripts written
Researchers recruited 2,232 drivers between the ages of 65 and 79 in five areas between 2015 and 2017: Aurora, Colorado; Ann Arbor, MI; San Diego, California; Baltimore, Maryland; and Cooperstown, New York. Women made up 53 percent of the study population, while men made up 47 percent.
Of the participants, 41.6 percent were 65 to 69 years old, 34.8 percent were 70 to 74 years old and 23.6 percent were 75 to 79 years old. The 75 adults with ADHD made up 2.6 percent of the study population. Additionally, 11.3 percent reported having anxiety, while 19.8 percent had depression.
The researchers found that older adults with ADHD had a 102 percent greater risk of self-reported traffic tickets and a 74 percent greater risk of self-reported car accidents. They were also seven percent more likely to brake hard or hit the brakes without any warning.
They said this could be due to adults with ADHD being more impatient and paying less attention.
A limitation of the study was that it was based solely on self-reporting by participants, which could have led to bias and inaccurate results. The researchers also did not know how severe each participant’s ADHD symptoms were.
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common condition usually diagnosed in childhood, but in recent years there has been an increase in the number of diagnoses in adults.
Neuroscientists have not yet determined a cause for ADHD, although genetics are thought to play an important role.
The main symptoms of ADHD, which typically manifest before the age of 12, include inattention and hyperactive-impulsive behavior. People with ADHD may, among other things, be constantly restless, unable to concentrate on a particular task, talk excessively, interrupt others, and be easily distracted.
However, the researchers of the new study said that older, undiagnosed individuals are more likely to have their symptoms ignored.
‘Problems still exist with the underdiagnosis and treatment of ADHD in older adults. Challenges in diagnosis include late onset of overt symptoms in adulthood and recall of childhood symptom preconceptions in older adults,” the team wrote.
They also said that conditions diagnosed later in life, such as dementia, can have similar symptoms to ADHD.
Stimulants are the most commonly used medications for ADHD because they increase dopamine levels, a neurochemical key to concentration and sustained focus.
Drugs work by slowing how much dopamine is reabsorbed into the neuron that produced it in the first place.
By slowing the reuptake of dopamine, the neurotransmitter has more time to travel from neuron to neuron, relaying information and ultimately binding to a receptor, sending and receiving messages in the brain more effectively.
This improves communication in parts of the brain that produce dopamine and norepinephrine, a chemical that helps a person stay awake, pay attention, and think clearly.
ADHD medications are generally effective and in many cases are crucial to people’s academic and social success and development. Between 70 to 80 percent of patients who are taking ADHD medications, experience fever or milder symptoms.
The most popular ADHD medications are Adderall and Ritalin.
The percentage of women in their 20s filling prescriptions for ADHD medications like Adderall increased by nearly 20 percent from 2020 to 2021, while that rate among adult men ages 30 to 39 increased by almost 15 percent.
The pandemic boom in new prescriptions has contributed to an ongoing nationwide Adderall shortage that parents in the U.S. say are leaving children unable to concentrate and behave in school.
This is not the first study into the effects of ADHD on driving. Research published in JAMA Psychiatry In 2017, it was found that car accidents fell by 38 percent among medicinal men with the condition and by 42 percent among medicinal women.
The authors also found that one in five car accidents could have been prevented if patients with ADHD had received their medication.
The new study was published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Open Network.