Researchers surveyed 1,012 adults (507 men and 505 women) chosen at random from a Czech national panel by a polling agency. The paper gives their age range as 18 to 65 in one place and 18 to 60 in another. Everyone filled in a short ADHD symptom screener, whether or not they had a diagnosis. They also rated their own lifestyle on a questionnaire. Only 34 people (3.36% of the sample) scored in the high symptom range.
Adults with higher symptom scores were more likely to describe their overall lifestyle as unhealthy. They reported eating sweets more often and fruit and vegetables less often. They reported more marijuana use and more misuse of volatile substances. They also reported more daytime sleepiness and more trouble sleeping at night. Higher scores went with slightly less TV and more physical activity and sport. Against the authors' expectations, higher scores were linked to less smoking. Men's and women's scores did not differ significantly.
This was a one-time survey, so it shows links, not causes. It measured symptoms, not diagnosis. The authors say the dropout rate is unknown. They did not ask about phone or console games, or about ADHD or other psychiatric medicines that could affect sleep.
The authors suggest that clinicians take a whole-person approach and not overlook lifestyle when assessing adults who may have ADHD.
Talk to a clinician about your own situation.
The numbers Stats and what the terms mean
The statistics behind the plain-language claims above.
- Weissenberger, 2018: share scoring 4 to 6 on the symptom screener, 11.4% of males and 9.7% of females.
- Weissenberger, 2018: rating their lifestyle as healthy, OR 1.21 (1.02 to 1.42, P=0.027).
- Weissenberger, 2018: smoking cigarettes, OR 1.47 (1.13 to 1.92, P=0.004) in the table, while the Results text gives OR =1.41.
- Weissenberger, 2018: marijuana use, OR 0.59 (0.48 to 0.73).
- Weissenberger, 2018: use of volatile substances, OR 0.34 (0.15 to 0.77, P=0.010).
- Weissenberger, 2018: regular physical activity or sport, OR 1.35 (1.05 to 1.74, P=0.020).
- Weissenberger, 2018: hours of TV per day, OR 0.95 (0.89 to 0.99, P=0.044).
- Weissenberger, 2018: portions of fruit and vegetables, OR 1.29 (1.03 to 1.60, P=0.023).
- Weissenberger, 2018: how often people ate sweets, OR 1.37 (1.17 to 1.59).
- Weissenberger, 2018: daytime sleepiness or tiredness, OR 0.46 (0.36 to 0.59).
- Weissenberger, 2018: trouble sleeping at night, OR 0.73 (0.59 to 0.97, P=0.014).
- Weissenberger, 2018: difference in score spread between men and women, Pearson chi2 (6) =3.1001, probability =0.796. What the terms mean:
- OR (odds ratio) A number that compares how likely something is between people with higher and lower symptom scores, where 1 means no difference; here, whether a value above or below 1 means more of a habit depends on how each question was coded.
- Confidence interval A range of values around a result that fit the data reasonably well, where a narrow range means a more precise result; here it is the pair of numbers in brackets after each odds ratio.
- P A number from a statistical test that shows how unusual a result would be if there were really no effect, and it depends on the study's own assumptions being right.
- Pearson chi2 A test of whether the spread of symptom scores differed between men and women; the probability shown is its p-value.
Source: Weissenberger S, Ptacek R, Vnukova M, et al.. ADHD and lifestyle habits in Czech adults, a national sample. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (2018). doi:10.2147/NDT.S148921