Does ADHD get better over time?

Studies have consistently shown that children with ADHD are likely to improve over time. Most children will experience a reduction in their symptoms by the time they reach adulthood. In many cases, these improvements are strong enough that the children no longer meet the criteria for ADHD.

One small study found that out of 61 cases of childhood ADHD, only three continued to have symptoms severe enough to qualify for ADHD as adults:

A later study found a similar findingin a different group. Researchers found that among children in Brazil with ADHD, only 15% still had ADHD as adults.

Both of these studies found plenty of cases of adult ADHD. However, in these particular studies, most adult ADHD cases started later in life.

Estimates of remission rates can vary a lot. Different studies can show vastly different estimates for the percentage of children with ADHD that get better.

One reason may be the challenge in defining “getting better” regarding ADHD. The data shows that most children will improve when they are adults. However, most will continue to have some impact from ADHD.

For example, hyperactive-type symptoms are the most likely to show improvement over time.

However, as you can see in the study below, most will still experience some level of hyperactivity even if they no longer qualify as having ADHD-level hyperactivity.

The three lines in the chart represent results for the same group of participants based on different criteria for ADHD.

The choice of criteria can dramatically impact the results we see. For example, the red line represents the percentage of participants no longer meeting the full criteria for hyperactivity in ADHD. Even though most participants will be in remission according to these criteria, most will still suffer from some impact in their lives, as shown by the green line.

Most children with ADHD will continue to have some impact on their lives from the ADHD symptoms, even if the majority recover by the time they reach adulthood.

Though ADHD symptoms generally improve over time, one study found that they can fluctuate and vary even in adulthood. This study followed children over time to see how ADHD symptoms vary at different ages.

30% of the children studied reached full remission at some point in adolescence or early adulthood.

However, 60% of these children also experienced recurrence, where their symptoms came back.

The authors of the study found that 64% of the children ended up with fluctuating symptoms in the study.

While most children get better, some do not. One study found that certain risk factors can help predict who gets better and who doesn’t.

Those with the most severe symptoms are almost twice as likely to continue to have ADHD as adults.

Similarly, those whose parents have mental health disorders or other mental health disorders, along with ADHD, have a significantly higher risk of continuing to have ADHD as adults.