Adolescents with chronic conditions (CCs) take more health risks than peers. However, coexisting ADHD has not sufficiently been considered. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of different CCs on protective factors and health-risk behaviors, taking coexisting ADHD into account. A school-based study among 6895 15- and 17-year-old students was performed in the county of Sörmland, Sweden in 2011 (response rate 80 %). The questionnaire explored background factors, CCs, protective factors, and health-risk behaviors. CCs were reported by 11 %, while 55 % were healthy. Students with CCs more often reported coexisting ADHD than healthy students. In adolescents with neurological conditions, the odds ratio for having ADHD was 7.34 (95 % CI 3.00-17.99) as compared to healthy peers. Few protective factors (<4) and clustered health-risk behaviors (≥4) were more common among students with CCs, especially if ADHD or a combination including ADHD was reported.
Conclusion: CCs and coexisting ADHD are associated with few protective factors and clustered-health risk behaviors. Adolescents with ADHD-in addition to a chronic condition-should be specially acknowledged by health care professionals in order to prevent health risk behaviors. ADHD should be considered when studying these outcomes in adolescents.
What is known: • Youth with chronic conditions (CCs)-especially ADHD-are reported to take more health risks than peers. • In earlier studies of youth with CCs, the presence of coexisting ADHD has not been taken into account.
What is new: • In this study, we showed that ADHD was more prevalent among adolescents with different types of CCs. • CCs and coexisting ADHD were associated with few protective factors and clustered health-risk behaviors.