According to a study by Medco Health Solutions, the number of women taking ADHD medication has soared in the last decade. Historically, more boys than girls are diagnosed with ADHD, but this report shows that women’s use of ADHD medications has increased more than 250 percent since 2001.
Because females don’t generally have the “h”- hyperactivity in ADHD, they often went undiagnosed as students. They may have been considered lazy or unmotivated, but not attention deficient. It becomes more obvious as they become adults handling more responsibility. Mothers of children diagnosed with ADHD sometimes identify with the symptoms and then seek treatment for themselves, as there is a 30-40% chance that if a child has ADHD, a parent will too.
Although this data shows more than 1.9% of females and 1.8% of males being diagnosed, over 4.5% of adults are thought to have ADHD, indicating there are still many others who are not being treated.