Evidence / 2020
Guidance for identification and treatment of individuals with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder based upon expert consensus
Young S, et al. (2020). BMC Medicine.
- Population
- Children and adults with co-occurring ADHD and autism
- Sample
- Expert consensus (not a trial sample)
- Condition
- ADHD and autism co-occurrence
- Medication focus
- Pharmacological and non-pharmacological care as discussed in the consensus
- Jurisdiction
- International
- Last reviewed
- 1 September 2026
- PMID
- 32448170
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12916-020-01585-y
Plain-language finding
ADHD and autism were not formally recognised as co-occurring diagnoses until DSM-5 (2013). The consensus provides practical recommendations for identification, assessment and treatment across the lifespan when both are present, including the need to assess each condition on its own terms rather than allowing one to eclipse the other.
Important limitation
Consensus is not a randomised trial. Implementation depends on local workforce, which in Australia is constrained (see access sources).
Why we cite this
Expert consensus that co-occurrence is real, assessable, and easy to miss if services are organised around a single label.
adhd · autism · nd-overlap · differential · overshadowing · training
Supported by clinical guidelines, regulatory information, systematic reviews, or well-established pharmacological knowledge. Still describes populations, not an individual.
Claims this source supports
ADHD and autism commonly co-occur. They were not formally allowed as co-diagnoses until DSM-5 (2013). Having one does not rule out the other, and treating one does not automatically treat the other.
Last reviewed 1 September 2026
Bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders can share surface features with ADHD, autism, trauma or mood presentations. They can also coexist with neurodevelopmental conditions. They are not simply manifestations of neurodivergence. Correct differentiation can materially affect treatment.
Last reviewed 1 September 2026
Diagnostic overshadowing is the tendency to attribute symptoms automatically to an existing diagnosis, making another condition harder to recognise. The original experimental literature concerned intellectual disability. The same mechanism is clinically relevant when ADHD, autism or a psychiatric label becomes a ceiling on curiosity.
Last reviewed 1 September 2026
Different parts of a person's profile are often recognised at different points in life. In children with both ADHD and autism, those whose ADHD was identified first have been observed to receive an autism diagnosis later. A later diagnosis does not automatically invalidate an earlier one.
Last reviewed 1 September 2026
AuDHD is community language for autism and ADHD occurring together. It is not a separate DSM or ICD diagnosis with its own criteria. DSM-5 (2013) removed the earlier rule that had treated the two as mutually exclusive. Each condition still has to be assessed on its own terms. One does not automatically explain the other.
Last reviewed 1 September 2026