A new Californian meta-analysis shows that childhood ADHD increases the risk of smoking in adolescence and alcohol use in young adulthood.

The review examined the association of childhood ADHD with substance use (nicotine, alcohol, marijuana) and abuse/dependence outcomes (nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine) by conducting a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies that prospectively followed children with and without ADHD into adolescence or adulthood.

The reviewers concluded:

These findings suggest that children with ADHD are significantly more likely to develop substance use disorders than children without ADHD and that this increased risk is robust to demographic and methodological differences that varied across the studies.

Lee SS, Humphreys KL, Flory K, Liu R, Glass K. Prospective association of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and substance use and abuse/dependence: a meta-analytic review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2011 Apr;31(3):328-41. [PubMed abstract]