MONDAY, Oct. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are significantly more likely than their peers to smoke as young adults, according to research published in the October issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Scott H. Kollins, Ph.D., of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and colleagues studied data on 15,197 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
The odds of becoming a regular smoker, defined as ever having smoked at least one cigarette a day for 30 days, increased by 1.11 for each inattention symptom and by 1.16 for each hyperactive/impulsive symptom. Those with ADHD were also more likely than those without the disorder to start smoking at an earlier age and to smoke a higher number of cigarettes, the authors found.
"Given the established link among earlier age at onset of smoking and risk for subsequent nicotine dependence and other drug use problems, these data are of high clinical and public health significance," the authors conclude. "Subsequent experimental research will be needed to further examine the relationship between smoking and ADHD symptoms and possible underlying mechanisms."
Abstract
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