Health experts and parents have been raising the alarm about a surge in ADHD cases, particularly among young people – but the increase appears to have tapered off in recent years.
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental disorders, affecting an estimated 8 per cent of children and teenagers. Worldwide, around 366 million adults have ADHD, with symptoms including trouble focusing, restlessness, and impulsivity.
But a new analysis, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, suggests the apparent recent uptick in ADHD cases may be more due to recognition than reality.
It looked at 40 studies on ADHD from 2020 onward. While there were major gaps in data, the highest-quality studies found no significant increase in the overall prevalence of ADHD in that time.
They also found no meaningful increase in new diagnoses from 2020 to 2024, though they have been trending upward in recent decades.
Researchers also noted that a growing number of people are getting tested and seeking support for ADHD.
“Our best evidence suggests the true rate of ADHD isn’t increasing that much,” Philip Shaw, director of the King’s Maudsley Partnership for Children and Young People, told journalists.
“My hunch is there's such a huge awareness of ADHD that it's often used as… the way young people express they are struggling at school and need help,” added Shaw, who was not involved with the new study.
Researchers said the longer-term increase in ADHD cases is likely due to some combination of “catch-up” diagnoses among people whose conditions were not detected when they were young, as well as changes to how ADHD is diagnosed, pandemic-era disruptions, social media, and other unknown reasons.
Some have proposed that constant stimulation from social media and mobile phones – which has earned young people the title of the “distracted generation” – could be driving an increase in ADHD.
A 2023 study, for example, found a link between ADHD symptoms and excessive social media use, smartphone dependence, and internet addiction.
But not all attention problems are ADHD, and “it’s too early to say what's causing what here,” Shaw said. “We don't know what’s the chicken and what's the egg”.
Researchers said more studies are needed to confirm whether more people are actually developing ADHD than in the past, or if they are simply more likely to be diagnosed.
“We should be looking at these questions… and I think that is what's happening,” Shaw said.
