Prevalence of adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the relatives of patients with bipolar disorder.

Objective: We hypothesized that relatives of bipolar patients would have increased rate of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and subsyndromal manifestations compared to demographically matched relatives of healthy controls.

Method: Forty consecutive patients with bipolar disorder were recruited from inpatient and outpatient units of Sisli Etfal Teaching and Research Hospital, Psychiatry Department. Seventy-three first-degree relatives of bipolar disorder group were included. A control group of first-degree relatives of individuals without DSM-IV Axis I psychopathology were also recruited. The Turkish version of the Structural Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, Wender Utah Rating Scale, Turgay's Adult ADD/ADHD DSM-IV based Diagnostic and Rating Scale were administered to participants.

Results: Overall rate of adult ADHD in RBD group was significantly higher than RC group (9.6 vs. 1.5%; P = 0.04). Participants with adult ADHD in the RBD group had significantly higher rate of alcohol abuse compared to those without adult ADHD (14.3 vs. 1.5%; P = 0.05). Rates of OCD and dysthimia were significantly higher in the subjects with ADHD in the RBD group than the subjects without ADHD (28.6 vs. 4.5%; P = 0.02, 14.3 vs. 1.5%; P = 0.05 respectively).

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that relatives of bipolar patients have a risk for suffering from ADHD, and support the hypothesis that relatives of bipolar patients are at a risk for developing attentional and behavioral problems.