Review of adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in South Africa

Introduction: Recently, there has been a greater focus on adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) given that the symptoms persist in two-thirds of patients into adulthood.Areas covered: A systematic review of articles reporting on adult ADHD in SA was undertaken. From the database search, 1209 articles were identified, with 29 articles included in this analysis.Expert commentary: Fourteen of the 29 studies reviewed were exploratory, 10 were reviews/commentaries, four were developmental studies and one was a phenomenological study. More than half (58.62%) of the articles were published in local South African journals, 13.79% were published in African journals (excluding South Africa), and 27.59% of the articles were published in international journals. The impact factor for nine of the journals were not stated and the remaining 11 have impact factors ranging from 0.207 to 6.78. In 2004, only one article on adult ADHD was published in SA and by 2015, the number of publications increased to six. Adult ADHD is gaining interest in South Africa, however, there have been a limited number of studies conducted thus far. It is recommended that further studies are conducted in this new and developing field.