This paper is a narrative review of ADHD in females, from childhood through the reproductive years and into menopause. It did not collect its own data. It drew on 39 cited sources, some of them non-peer-reviewed web pages, and did not describe how the sources were chosen.
The authors report that ADHD is often missed and undertreated in girls and women. They describe girls and women as more likely to show a quiet, inattentive pattern, with low self-esteem and frequent anxiety or depression, rather than the loud, hyperactive pattern more common in boys. They also say hormone changes seem to worsen symptoms at certain times: the second half of the menstrual cycle, after childbirth, and around menopause. Core symptoms were described as easing during pregnancy itself, while distractibility rose.
The review relays figures from other studies, not its own. Teenage girls with ADHD were reported to have about twice the risk of pregnancy compared with peers without ADHD (2 times). Women with ADHD were reported to have a 20-30% higher chance of a cesarean birth. Where ADHD ran in first-degree relatives, other members were reported to face a 2 to 8 times higher risk. Women not diagnosed as children were diagnosed on average at 36 to 38 years.
The authors say health professionals need more awareness of how ADHD appears in girls and women so signs are found and treated early.
Handoff note: I used rule set 2026-09-12a. Two things to flag. First, the extract is an expert-opinion narrative review with no primary sample and no stated method, so every number in the body is a figure the review relays from other studies, not a result of this paper; I labeled it that way throughout. Second, the extract notes the "20-30% more chances of a cesarean section" has no stated comparator in the paper, and the same for the family-risk figure; I wrote them as reported without inventing a baseline. I left out the perinatal-screening proposal to stay at one closing actionable sentence and keep the body from over-widening; it could be added if you prefer that half of the actionable over the awareness half.
Source: Antoniou E, Rigas N, Orovou E, et al.. ADHD Symptoms in Females of Childhood, Adolescent, Reproductive and Menopause Period. Materia Socio Medica (2021). doi:10.5455/msm.2021.33.114-118