Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses for adults have been on the rise in Denmark in recent years.
In 2016 there were over 5,000 more adults in treatment for the mental disorder than in 2012, despite the illness being more commonly associated with children.
“Firstly, we see some of the children who have the diagnosis become adults. But aside from that we see more and more adults who have lived a tough life and suddenly have the opportunity or the understanding that they could be suffering from ADHD,” Camilla Lydiksen, the head of Danish ADHD Association, told DR Nyheder.
READ MORE: Danish research: ADHD increases the chance of teenage parenthood
Not just kids
In 2016, 16,639 Danes aged 20-39 were diagnosed with ADHD – an increase from 13,548 in 2012. The same trend was also clear in the 40-64 age group in which 8,042 people got a diagnosis in 2016, compared to under 5,800 in 2012.
Experts point to the hereditary element of the illness, which allows doctors to better test parents of children who have been diagnosed with ADHD.
Earlier, the disease was often considered a diagnosis for children and many adults have thus fallen through the cracks over the years.
