Psychiatric Comorbidity in Treatment-Seeking Alcohol Dependence Patients With and Without ADHD

Abstract

The estimated prevalence of ADHD in patients being treated for alcohol dependence is high, and the presence of a possible ADHD in adulthood is associated with an increase in psychiatric comorbidity.

Psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-v1.1) in a sample of Inpatients with alcohol use disorder

“…While the prevalence of ADHD in adults, with a cut-off point of 14, was estimated to be 21.1% in Roncero et al's study (8), in the present study with a cut-off point of 10, this rate was much higher (31.1%). The main reason for this inconsistency may be that we used the Adult ADHD Scale as the gold standard, whereas Roncero et al (8) used Conners' Adult ADHD Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV (CAADID).…”

“…Accepting a cut-off point of 14 on the ASRS-6, van de Glind et al (11) found a sensitivity of 84.95% and a specificity of 66.95%, Daigre et al (43) found a sensitivity of 86.7% and a specificity of 66.1%, and finally, in a sample of patients with AUD, Roncero et al (8) found a sensitivity of 83.3% and a specificity of 66.1%, PPV of 32.3%, and an NPV of 95.4%. In the present study, the cut-off score of 10 for ASRS-6 corresponded to sensitivity=0.75, specificity=0.79, PPV=0.46, and NPV=0.93.…”

“…The ASRS-6 has also been reported to possess satisfactory psychometric properties in patients with addiction disorders (11,39,40,(42)(43)(44). Specifically, in samples of patients with AUD, psychometric characteristics have been analyzed by three studies, in which satisfactory properties have been found (8,11,43). Nevertheless, the result of the test does not replace clinical diagnosis, and the clinician must take false positives into consideration by evaluating ASRS positives with gold standard scales.…”

“…The estimated prevalence of ADHD in the general adult population is between 1.2% and 7.3% (2,3). Studies in adults with ADHD find lifetime rates of alcohol use disorders (AUD) ranging between 21.0% and 53.0% (4,5), whereas previous studies found the prevalence of high risk of ADHD to be ranging between 21.0% and 23.1%, according to screening test (6)(7)(8). In an international multi-center study using the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) (9,10), adult ADHD prevalence was found to be lower among treatmentseeking patients with AUD than among patients with drug use disorder (11).…”

“…In addition, the prevalence of undiagnosed ADHD in AUD inpatients is estimated to be high, and it is related with the severity of AUD and other negative variables such as psychiatric comorbidity (25). Unfortunately, this implies greater therapeutic needs and negatively affects the quality of life and interpersonal relationships of these patients (8). Thus, as a study population for the evaluation of psychometric properties of ASRS, patients with AUD have priority.…”