Although in the past it was thought that ADHD did not continue beyond adolescence, nowadays there is a consistent body of scientific knowledge showing that ADHD often persists in adults who had been diagnosed as having ADHD in childhood. There are very few studies in the literature on the pattern of the evolution of the symptoms and mainly on the factors that predict this outcome in adulthood. The aim of this paper is to review the scientific literature on ADHD with specific focus on data about symptom remission during adolescence and predictors of the disorder persistence into adulthood. The authors present data on prevalence in adolescence and adulthood, factors associated to results variability among studies, potential risk factors of persistence, and the only study delineated specifically with the objective of assessing a comprehensive set of predictors of the disorder from childhood up to adulthood.
Attention deficit; adolescence remission; predictors of persistence; epidemiology
