Distribution of Childhood and Adulthood Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder among Iranian Elite Athletes

 Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) refers to a psychological disorder affecting multiple areas of an individual’s life. This disorder is reported to be more prevalent among athletes in comparison with the general population.

 To the best of our knowledge, there has been no information about the distribution of ADHD among Iranian elite athletes. This study was then designed to investigate the distribution of childhood and adulthood ADHD among Iranian elite athletes.

In this cross-sectional survey, a number of 180 elite athletes, over 18 years old, from various national team camps, were selected through random sampling. The short version of the Wender-Utah Rating Scale (WURS-K) and Adult Self-Rating Scale (ASRS) were used for measuring previous childhood and present adulthood ADHD, respectively.

 Findings revealed that approximately a quarter of the Iranian elite athletes used to suffer from ADHD in their childhood, and 36% of them carried symptoms to their adulthood life. In addition, 9.5% of the participants only reported the symptoms in their adulthood.

 Athletes with different levels of previous Childhood and present Adulthood ADHD are able to successfully participate in elite sports. The level of Childhood ADHD can be mostly reduced due to participation in elite sports.