IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Many drug addicts seem to have had a childhood history of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, a surprise finding that could help treat both conditions, researchers reported Tuesday.
Using a sophisticated computer program that analyzes speech patterns for evidence of cognitive impairment, Louis Gottschalk and colleagues at the University of California, Irvine, found nearly 28 percent of drug addicts they studied had suffered from untreated attention deficit disorder as children.
It is too early to say whether ADHD -- also known as ADD -- causes drug abuse, Gottschalk told United Press International. Because most of these individuals did not receive treatment for their ADHD, their addictions might have been unconscious attempts to self-medicate or treat themselves with illicit drugs, Gottschalk said.
"It should be studied further because it was an unplanned and unexpected finding," he said. However, the research, which appears in the December issue of the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, suggests children with ADHD could be at a higher risk for drug abuse, he said.
In the study, the researchers analyzed 120 drug abusers who were currently patients at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Long Beach or at the University of California Neuropsychiatric Center in Irvine. The computer program analyzed five minutes of speech from each subject and the results were compared with a battery of standard psychological tests.
Although the standard tests did not find any evidence of ADHD, the computer program concluded more than 27 percent of the patients suffered from the condition, Gottschalk said. The computer program agreed with the tests on all other assessments of cognitive function.
The association between ADHD and drug abuse is not a new concept but no one has shown the mental disorder actually causes drug abuse, Jeff Newcorn, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, told UPI.
"It's known that there's an increased risk for substance abuse among people with (ADHD)," he said. But he noted other conditions can co-occur along with ADHD so it is difficult to conclusively determine which disorder might actually be linked to the drug abuse.
"The vast majority of people with (ADHD) don't go on to become substance abusers," Newcorn said. In addition, he said, a recent study found that people with ADHD who were on medication for the condition were not at an increased risk of drug abuse compared with people who did not suffer from the disorder.
Gottschalk co-designed the computer program, Psychiatric Content Analysis and Diagnosis 2000, used in the study some 40 years ago. Signs of cognitive impairment are often reflected in people's speech, Gottschalk said. "People who are cognitively impaired repeat themselves more frequently than people who are not or they may frequently break off in the middle of a sentence without finishing it," he said.
The program detected former U.S. president Ronald Reagan had cognitive impairment in 1984, some 10 years before Reagan disclosed he suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
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(Reported by Steve Mitchell, UPI Medical Correspondent, in Washington)
