ADHD Prevalence Lower in Regions With More Sunlight, New Study Suggests

A large study using both American and international databases has found a lower prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in geographic regions where there is intense sunlight than in regions where there is less sunlight. The study was headed by Martijn Arns, Ph.D., director of the Research Institute Brainclinics at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and is published in Biological Psychiatry.

Arns and colleagues suggest that "the preventative effect of high solar intensity might be related to an improvement in circadian clock disturbances, which have recently been associated with ADHD." This finding "is intriguing and, if replicated, could help further our understanding of the etiology, treatment, and prevention of ADHD," David Fassler, M.D., a child and adolescent psychiatrist and a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont, told Psychiatric News.

To read more about recent research on treatment of ADHD, see the American Journal of Psychiatry and Psychiatric News.

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