One of the world’s most comprehensive studies into ADHD in children has broken down the factors that can adversely affect their health and quality of life.

Much is known about the functional and academic impacts ADHD can have.

But researchers at Deakin University wanted to know about how it affected the long-term health of the child.

So they studied 4000 children aged between four and 17 in the only study of its kind to trace the same group of children over a 13-year period.

It found with two or more siblings, family support and who were engaged in physical activity did better.

They had poorer health outcomes when they had a caregiver with a physical or mental illness and when they had a medical condition such as autism.

It also found children taking common ADHD medications had poorer health outcomes — but because the study’s sample size was small, the researchers said this particular result should be treated with caution.

“We need to take into account all other, what’s going on with the children, their social emotional difficulties so a more holistic approach would be recommended in terms of treatment and support for children with ADHD not just medication,” Deakin University’s Dr Ha Le said.

The advice is that changing a child’s treatment plan should only be done after consulting a medical professional.