Guidance
This guideline covers diagnosing and managing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children over 3 years, young people and adults. It aims to improve the diagnosis of ADHD as well as the quality of care and support for people with ADHD.
In February 2016, recommendations about dietary advice were updated.
Recommendations
This guideline includes recommendations on:
- identifying possible ADHD and referral
- diagnosis
- advice about diet, behaviour and general care
- treatments for children and young people and for adults, including psychological treatments, parent-training/education programmes and drugs
- transition to adult services for young people with ADHD
Who is it for?
- Healthcare professionals
- Commissioners and providers of services for people with ADHD
- Children, young people and adults with ADHD, and their families and carers
This guideline updates NICE guideline CG72 (published September 2008).
This guideline was previously called attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management of ADHD in children, young people and adults.
Your responsibility
The recommendations in this guideline represent the view of NICE, arrived at after careful consideration of the evidence available. When exercising their judgement, professionals and practitioners are expected to take this guideline fully into account, alongside the individual needs, preferences and values of their patients or the people using their service. It is not mandatory to apply the recommendations, and the guideline does not override the responsibility to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual, in consultation with them and their families and carers or guardian.
Local commissioners and providers of healthcare have a responsibility to enable the guideline to be applied when individual professionals and people using services wish to use it. They should do so in the context of local and national priorities for funding and developing services, and in light of their duties to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, to advance equality of opportunity and to reduce health inequalities. Nothing in this guideline should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with complying with those duties.
Commissioners and providers have a responsibility to promote an environmentally sustainable health and care system and should assess and reduce the environmental impact of implementing NICE recommendations wherever possible.