People with ADHD had a 70% higher risk of death from any cause in a 19-study meta-analysis, with excess deaths from suicide, injury and natural causes.
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The researchers reviewed 19 observational cohort studies covering close to 16 million people on three continents. Suicide mortality was 89% higher among people with ADHD, injury deaths were 55% higher and natural-cause mortality was 27% higher. Among people with ADHD, those taking ADHD medication had a 25% lower risk of death, although that finding came from only three of the 19 studies, and all included studies were observational.
The analysis builds on earlier work from Stott’s group, including a 2025 British Journal of Psychiatry study of more than 30,000 U.K. adults with diagnosed ADHD. It estimated that life expectancy was about seven years shorter for men and about nine years shorter for women than in a matched comparison group.
In this interview with Managed Healthcare Executive, Stott discusses how health systems can adapt mainstream services to better reach people with ADHD. He points to simple changes, such as structured scheduling and frequent text reminders, that would help patients who find it difficult to keep appointments and to adapting standard therapies to account for how ADHD intersects with anxiety and rejection sensitivity.
Stott also ties the mortality gap to social disadvantage that accumulates over a lifetime, noting that adults now in their 50s and 60s often grew up when ADHD was poorly understood and were more likely to leave school early. “It’s not that if you have ADHD you will die younger,” Stott said, adding that the evidence points to modifiable risks that diagnosis and appropriate support could address.
He describes the medication finding as preliminary but relevant for patients who worry that treatment could shorten their lives, since the early evidence points the other way.
