SUMMARY

background Personalized medicine aims to provide the right treatment for the right person at the right time, as opposed to the currently employed ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. This development relies on identification of adhd subgroups using biomarkers. One important adhd subgroup is characterised by impaired vigilance regulation, as quantified by the eeg and this sub-group responds well to stimulant medication and neurofeedback. Recent insights suggest a clear association between reduced sleep duration and adhd complaints in this sub-group of adhd patients. A recently published model explains how different treatments e.g. chronobiological treatments and neurofeedback impact on this neural circuitry and mediate adhd symptom improvement.
aim To test this recently published model predicting a relationship between solar intensity and adhd prevalence.
method A literature survey on studies using identical methods to estimate the prevalence of adhd in different geographical areas and compare those to worldwide solar intensity data.
results A clear relationship between solar intensity and the worldwide prevalence of adhd was found, explaining 34-57% of the variance in adhd prevalence, where a lower prevalence of adhd was found in areas with high solar-intensity.
conclusion The preventative effect of high solar intensity may be related to improvement of circadian clock disturbances. These findings likely apply to a substantial sub-group of adhd patients and have major implications for our understanding of the etiology and possibly prevention of adhd.