The objective of this study is to assess the frequency of adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) comorbidity and the effect of ADHD comorbidity on various demographic and clinical variables in patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD).

103 patients with BD (51 female, 52 male) presenting at outpatient clinic of the BD Unit of the Department of Psychiatry of Çukurova University Faculty of Medicine were included in this study. All patients were evaluated for the presence of adult ADHD diagnosis and comorbidity using the entire SCID-I and the childhood ADHD sections of K-SADS-PL. Furthermore, the patients have also completed the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS-25) and Present Symptoms Scales.

13 of the 103 patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder (12.6%) were diagnosed with adult ADHD. BD patients with ADHD comorbidity had mood episodes at an earlier age and had higher numbers of previous total episodes, depressive and hypomanic episodes and higher numbers of hospital admittances than those without comorbidity. Overall, a larger portion of the patients with comorbidity had axis I comorbidities and panic disorder and alcohol abuse disorders were found at higher rates.

Adult ADHD is a common comorbidity in BD patients, which adversely affects the course of the disease and disrupts the social adjustment of the patients. Regular monitoring and scanning that keeps in mind the diagnosis of ADHD, will help prevent the problems and complications in the disease process, particularly in patients with early onset BD.