Health related quality of life (HRQoL) can be measured and compared, to give us an understanding of the impact different diseases have on health. The diagnostic tests for attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD) in adulthood fail to catch the diversity of ways the condition affects one's life. Disease-specific quality-of-life scales try to reach beyond the typical symptoms of the condition, to find those specific difficulties a person subjectively grades as challenging.

To assess the levels of general and disease-specific HRQoL in adults with ADHD-like symptoms.

To understand the impact ADHD-like symptoms have on adults’ HRQoL.

A random, nationwide sample of 3000 Finnish speaking citizens (aged 18-44 years) was drawn from the national population register. A subsample of 171 people, 57 screener (Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale [ASRS]) positive cases and two age- and sex-matched controls for each case, participated in a telephone interview. General HRQoL was measured with 15D, and disease-specific HRQoL with Adult ADHD Quality-of-Life (AAQoL) scale.

The 15D score was 0.866 for the screener positives, 0.943 for the controls, and 0.945 for the Finnish population reference. The difference between the screener positives and controls was significant (P < 0.001). The AAQoL sum score was worse for the screener positives than controls (61.9 vs. 82.1, P < 0.001), and all the subscales were affected accordingly.

Adults with ADHD-like symptoms have a lower quality of life, as measured both on the general and on the condition-specific quality of life scales.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.