Impacts of Co-Occurring ADHD Symptoms on Critical Markers of Outcome for Autistic Adults

Outcomes for autistic adults are generally poor across multiple foundational metrics, including quality of life and activities of daily living. Co occurring psychiatric conditions, including depression and anxiety, contribute to these poor outcomes. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common co-occurring conditions in autistic individuals, yet its association with adult outcomes is largely unknown. 628 autistic adults (18-83 years; 58% female) recruited from the Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge cohort completed questionnaires on demographics, co occurring mental health conditions, activities of daily living and subjective quality of life. After controlling for age, birth-sex, socioeconomic status, autistic traits, and ADHD medications, ADHD symptoms explained an additional 2 to 9% of variance across activities of daily living and all domains of subjective quality of life. This is the first study to demonstrate an association between self-reported ADHD symptoms and lower activities of daily living and subjective quality of life ratings by autistic adults. These findings highlight that additional research and better supports for co-occurring ADHD symptoms may be critical to enhancing independence and quality of life for autistic adults.