Prevalence of Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder symptoms among 18-64 year-olds in Puerto Rico

Almost 50% of subjects diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in childhood, still present it in adulthood. However, prevalence of ADHD is not currently available for the Puerto Rican adult population. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of ADHD symptoms among adults 18 to 64 years in Puerto Rico, and to describe this population. This is a secondary data analysis of the population-based study “Need Assessment among 15-74 years old population in Puerto Rico”. Our study sample comprises 2,607 adults (18-64 years old). Statistical analyses were conducted to describe the population and to estimate the prevalence of ADHD symptoms. The estimated prevalence of ADHD symptoms was 5.8% (95%CI: 4.9%-6.7%). Among those who reported these symptoms, the mean age was 41.89±13.05 years. About 7% of women and 6% of men reported ADHD symptoms. Bivariate analyses showed that those without high school degree (p=0.015), unemployed (p<0.001) and identified as divorced, separated or widowed (p=0.002) were more likely to report ADHD symptoms. In addition, comorbidities like anxiety (45.2%), depression (26.5%), and bipolar symptoms (18.7%) were present in the ADHD group. Logistic regression showed that, after adjustments by gender and age, those subjects with ADHD symptoms were more likely to be drug dependents (OR=3.75; 95%CI=1.79-7.89), depressive (OR=7.65; 95%CI=5.07-11.54), have anxiety (OR=7.43; 95%CI=5.23-10.56) or bipolar (OR=8.27; 95%CI=5.13-13.33) symptoms. Understanding the extent of this symptomatology and who it affects, warrants further investigation as it might help improve their quality of life and offer better strategies for prevention, control and intervention in this population.