Female ADHD: An international survey on experiences and health of women with ADHD

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental
disorder, characterized by lifetime difficulties in concentration,
hyperactivity, and impulsivity (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The
cross-national prevalence of adult ADHD is 3.4% (Fayyad et al., 2017). ADHD has
high comorbidity, especially depression and anxiety (Cortese et al., 2016) and
has recently been associated with 34 psychiatric comorbidities and somatic
disorders (Du Rietz et al., 2021). The gender distribution in adulthood is
almost 1:1, but girls and women with ADHD are still underdiagnosed and
undertreated (Cortese et al., 2016) .
In clinical practice, we see that ADHD affects women differently than
men. It is recognized that females with ADHD show a somewhat modified set of
behaviors, symptoms and comorbidities when compared with males with ADHD. It
has become clear that a better understanding of ADHD in girls and women is
needed if we are to improve their longer-term wellbeing and functional and
clinical outcomes (Young et al., 2020).
Therefore, PsyQ Expertise Center Adult ADHD and ADHD Europe
collaborated in developing a survey to gain insight in the experiences and
general health of women with ADHD.

The field calls for more insight in ADHD in girls and women (Young et al.,
2020). So far, little research is done on the experiences and health of women
with ADHD. The few studies done often have small sample sizes or are of a
qualitative nature. Therefore, the PsyQ Expertise Center Adult ADHD started a
collaboration with support network ADHD Europe to develop a survey on the
experiences and health of women with ADHD. This survey consists of
questionnaires on experiences in retrieving a diagnosis and/or treatment, aims
to identify barriers and assisting factors, common health conditions in women
with ADHD, and lastly new research topics in women with ADHD.

This survey will be distributed throughout Europe, starting with making it
available in English and Dutch. Translations in other languages will be
possible. This way, we are able to identify both general experiences of women
with ADHD as well as experiences with regard to the local health care system
and make comparisons between countries.

This survey is the first to study experiences and health of women with ADHD
internationally, and results will provide insights and leads for all involved
with diagnosis and treatment of these women.

The primary objective is to understand the overall experience of women with
ADHD, to identify barriers to diagnosis and sources of support and explore the
links between ADHD and other health conditions.

The secondary objective is to identify what needs to be researched further and
which interventions are needed.

Exploratory study following a cross-sectional design.
The survey will be open to fill out from March 2023 to October 2023, and will
be available in English, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French, and German.

The survey is organized into 6 sections, the six sections are:
(1) Demographic Information;
(2) ADHD Diagnosis & Symptoms;
(3) ADHD and Other Health Conditions;
(4) Menstrual Cycle;
(5) Sleep;
(6) Conflict Tactics & Romantic Relationships.

Due to the workload and time investment of the participants, it was decided to
offer the survey in 2 parts, part 1 consists of sections 1-3, part 2 consists
of sections 4-6. The time investment for completing each of the parts is 25
minutes, bringing the total time investment for the participant to 50 minutes.

Risks of participation are considered low. Participants might consider certain
questions triggering, but are always free to skip questions and stop the
survey.