Few prospective studies have been done with regard to the relationship between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar symptoms of adolescents in community. This study was designed to investigate the prediction of ADHD symptoms for the mood symptoms in adolescents.

Totally, 3323 high school students recruited (mean age= 15.3±1.2 years) filled out 18-question Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS). The subjects were interviewed with Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-epidemiology version (K-SADS-E) at baseline and filled out questionnaires Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and, Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) 2 years later. The P value for significance was set at .05.

There are 1437 out of 3323 were screen possible or definite ADHD by the score of ASRS at the baseline. There were 7.8% of them (11.0% ADHD, 5.4% non-ADHD; χ2=44.4, p=.00) had moderate to severe degree of depressive symptoms defined by the score of BDI-II higher or equal to 20; 3.7% of them (5.1% ADHD, 2.6% non-ADHD; χ2=20.7, p=.00) had hypomanic episode, defined by 7 positive out of 14 hypomanic symptoms (at least 2 concurrent symptoms) with moderate to severe impairment; 1.1 % of them (1.7% ADHD, 0.6% non-ADHD; χ2=9.0, p=.03) had mixed symptoms defined by meet both criteria during the 2 year follow-up period.

Our preliminary result showed that the ADHD symptoms predicted depressive, hypomanic, or mixed mood 2 years later in late adolescent. It helps better recognize and provide integrated intervention like combination of attention-enhancer agent and psychosocial intervention, antidepressant, or mood stabilizer for the ADHD adolescents comorbid bipolar disorders.