Injury risk and ADHD

"The results indicate that there is an elevated injury risk among Swedish schoolchildren with ADHD [attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder] but not for children with ASD [autism spectrum disorder]."

So went the findings reported by Carl Bonander and colleagues [1] providing yet more important data on how a diagnosis of ADHD might be something that confers quite a bit of additional risk for all-manner of different negative outcomes.

I've hinted at this important topic before as per some discussion a few years back on how road crossing behaviour might be 'affected' by a diagnosis of ADHD (see here). This time around Swedish researchers compared the risk of injury for those diagnosed with autism vs. risk of injury for those diagnosed with ADHD based on school nurse collected- and school-based data (survey A and B respectively). "After adjusting for confounders, ADHD was associated with a 65% increased risk of injury... in Survey A, and a 57% increased risk of injury... in Survey B" relative to data derived from "unaffected controls."

A quick look through the other peer-reviewed material on this topic reveals the extent to which a diagnosis of ADHD might increase the risk of various injuries. Take the paper by Silva and colleagues [2] who noted that in "young children who are subsequently diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)" there was an increased risk of hospitalisation for all manner of different things: "head injuries, burns, poisons, all other injuries." Other studies have reported similar findings [3] including that relying on 'big data' from the big data capital that is Taiwan [4] (see here for more chatter on Taiwan).

Whilst no-one is suggesting that every visit to accident and emergency (the emergency room) is somehow the product of ADHD, there are some potentially important lessons to learn from such collected data. Timely diagnosis and appropriate management of ADHD symptoms when they affect quality of life are two points raised, bearing in mind 'management' might include several strategies (see here and see here and see here). Where also hospitals or other medical professionals are presented with children or young people who are 'regular visitors', one might also look to the possibility of preferential screening for something like ADHD too as part of additional enquiries. I might add that whilst Bonander and colleagues looked at ADHD vs. autism when it comes to injury risk, one must not forget that ADHD and autism occurring together is not an uncommon finding (see here) and accident and emergency is not necessarily an unfamiliar place to some of those on the autism spectrum (see here). There is more to do in this important area of research.

Finally, I'm also minded to reiterate that hosptial admissions for certain chronic somatic issues might also flag up preferential ADHD screening as well (see here)...

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[1] Bonander C. et al. Injury risks in schoolchildren with attention-deficit/hyperactivity or autism spectrum disorder: Results from two school-based health surveys of 6- to 17-year-old children in Sweden. J Safety Res. 2016 Sep;58:49-56.

[2] Silva D. et al. Children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and their hospitalisations: population data linkage study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2014 Nov;23(11):1043-50.

[3] Hurtig T. et al. The Association Between Hospital-Treated Injuries and ADHD Symptoms in Childhood and Adolescence: A Follow-Up Study in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. J Atten Disord. 2016 Jan;20(1):3-10.

[4] Kang JH. et al. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder increased the risk of injury: a population-based follow-up study. Acta Paediatr. 2013 Jun;102(6):640-3.

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Bonander C, Beckman L, Janson S, & Jernbro C (2016). Injury risks in schoolchildren with attention-deficit/hyperactivity or autism spectrum disorder: Results from two school-based health surveys of 6- to 17-year-old children in Sweden. Journal of safety research, 58, 49-56 PMID: 27620934