Comorbidity is common among adults with ADHD, including substance abuse. To our knowledge relation between ADHD and SUD has not been studied in Arab countries.

Assessment of scope of comorbidity between ADHD and SUD in Egyptian patients.

Estimating prevalence rate of adult ADHD among substance use inpatients and to compare substance use inpatients with and without adult ADHD regarding onset, and severity of SUD.

This cross-sectional comparative study was conducted in addiction treatment center at El Maamoura psychiatric hospital. One Hundred and two adult males were assessed using Arabic version of Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) for retrospective assessment of symptoms of childhood ADHD. Arabic version of Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-v1.1) Symptom Checklist was used to screen for adult ADHD. DSM IV TR criteria were used for final diagnosis.

36 patients were diagnosed as having adult ADHD (35.3%) according to DSM-IV TR criteria. Presence of adult ADHD was associated with an earlier mean age of onset of SUD (15.58 vs. 13.22 years) and larger number of hospital admissions, (6.83 vs. 3.39 times). ADHD subjects achieved a shorter mean period of abstinence (124.53 vs. 209.82 days). Data were fed to the computer using the Predictive Analytics Software (PASW Statistics 18). Significance of the obtained results was judged at the 5% level.

The results of this study confirm the high rates of adult ADHD among substance use patients mentioned in other studies. Presence of adult ADHD was associated with a more complicated course of SUD.