ADHD and Life Expectancy: Reading the Numbers Without the Panic
A calm reading of the peer-reviewed evidence on ADHD and life expectancy. The 2025 UK life-table study found an apparent loss of 6.78 years for men and 8.64 for women among diagnosed adults, consistent with a doubled mortality rate replicated in Danish, Swedish, and pooled international data, with accidents and suicide the leading early causes. Swedish and Quebec cohorts show 21 to 39 percent lower all-cause mortality after starting medication, concentrated in unnatural causes; no study has measured life expectancy in years for treated people. The piece stresses that the figures come from diagnosed samples that over-represent severity and co-occurring conditions, so the population-wide gap is probably smaller; that the reasons remain unproven hypotheses needing stratified studies by severity, comorbidity, age at diagnosis, sex, and treatment; and invites readers to share their own views by email.