Some children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms may have an added burden to carry, a new Duke study claims.
After examining federal data on 15,197 adolescents from 1995 to 2009, researchers at Duke University Medical Center found that possessing three or more ADHD symptoms considerably increases the chances of becoming obese in adulthood.
Children with ADHD symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsiveness, the most influential of the risk factors studied, had a rise in risk of obesity by 63 percent, according to Bloomberg Businessweek Oct. 27.
"This is the first study to take this concept out of the clinic and into the population and show that it's not just the diagnosis of ADHD that matters; it's the symptoms," said study co-author Scott Kollins, director of the Duke ADHD program, in a Duke Medicine news release.
Bernard Fummeler, lead author of the study, said the broader implication is that this research may offer clues to what is driving the obesity epidemic.
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