Clinical Inquiry: What is the long-term educational outlook for youngsters with ADHD?

A prospective cohort study compared educational and employment outcomes among 91 middle-class white boys, 6 to 12 years of age, with ADHD who were referred to a psychiatric clinic with outcomes for 96 matched controls. Investigators used multiple educational achievement tests to evaluate participants when they enrolled in the study, then administered educational and occupational questionnaires 16 years later. Boys with ADHD completed 2.5 fewer years of school than controls (P=.001). Although rates of employment for the 2 groups were the same at 90%, those with ADHD had a significantly poorer occupational ranking than controls using the Hollingshead and Redlich system, which rates occupations on 7-point scale, with 1 representing top-ranked occupations. Individuals with ADHD scored 4.4 points compared with 3.5 points for the control group (P<.001). However, by the end of the study, more individuals with ADHD owned and operated their own businesses compared with controls (18% vs 5%; P<.01).