Calls to stop women and girls being 'missed' from ADHD diagnoses in Scotland

One woman who was eventually diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at a private clinic at the age of 63 has described feeling unsupported by the NHS.

According to the Scottish Government, it is estimated that ADHD affects around five per cent of children and 2.5 per cent to four per cent of adults in Scotland.

While there is no specific statistics on women and girls diagnosed with ADHD in Scotland, researchers at University College London found that since 2000 to 2018 the proportion of diagnosis of ADHD in men was 74.3 per 10,000 compared with 20 per 10,000 women.

This means men are 3.7 times more likely to be diagnosed compared to women in the UK.

Helen Minnis, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Glasgow, co-authored a study which found girls with ADHD from deprived backgrounds may face a higher risk of long-term health conditions.

Part of the findings, which were released in May, was that ADHD in females has been historically under-recognised, underdiagnosed and undertreated.

Read more: Why Grangemouth's green fuels blueprint has stalled amid fears of 'irreversible industrial decline'

As a result, the long-term consequences of ADHD in girls and women have been largely overlooked in both clinical practice and research, the study found.

Professor Minnis said: “There’s a lot of speculation about whether girls mask more.

“It may just be that the research tools, the story that the clinical measures that we use to diagnose ADHD just were perhaps not really designed to be thinking about girls, so we need to be better at identifying ADHD in girls at a younger age.”

In July, the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland (RCPsychiS) warned that a decade of health and social care integration has left the country’s mental health services fragmented as it called for an urgent independent inquiry into the effect on patient safety.

Ms Minnis added: “I think there’s real will from the Scottish Government, the problem is that there’s been decades of underfunding.”

Read more: Sutherland's space race relaunches as spaceport moves to public hands

After seeking support from the Scottish ADHD Coalition, 63-year-old Christine Aston from Perth received a diagnosis for ADHD only last year after attending a private clinic.

Ms Aston, a part-time pupil support assistant, said: “The NHS aren’t going to support me with my ADHD late diagnosis, they’ve already said that.

“Because part of the interview over that was, well academically in school you were actually fine between five and 12. That was their diagnosis.

“And you’ve coped as a woman, you’re academic, you’ve studied, you’ve trained, you’ve been to university … and you’ve managed, and that’s kind of where they left it.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson welcomed the study and said: “In our Programme for Government, we said that we would adopt the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ four-tiered national pathway for neurodevelopmental conditions (including ADHD) to ensure anyone with or without a formal diagnosis can access the support they need when and where they need it.

“Alongside this work, we are continuing to improve neurodevelopmental support for children and young people.

“This includes the recently announced £7.6 million Children and Young People’s Neurodevelopment Support Fund, which will help strengthen local neurodevelopmental support for children and families as part of wider work being taken forward with local government and partners across Scotland.”