How to determine if you’re at risk for adult ADHD

The University of Cincinnati's Stephen Rush was featured in a National Geographic article discussing current research into the causes and characteristics of ADHD, particularly when it is diagnosed in adults. 

"The predominant theory is primarily genetics and the biology of what’s going on in the brain that seems to be associated with it," said Rush, MD, associate professor of clinical psychiatry in UC's College of Medicine, medical director of ambulatory services and a UC Health physician. Studies show that about 80 percent of the time there is a similar genetic component found among people who have ADHD compared to people who do not have it. 

Our brains have “a polygenic architecture,” Rush continued. “And what that means is that there are hundreds of potential genes contributing to small effects. Their interaction, and the interaction that those genes have, even with the environment, shapes the risk for a diagnosis of ADHD.”

Read the National Geographic article.

Featured photo at top of wooden blocks spelling ADHD. Photo/anilakkus/iStock Photo.