Speaking to HuffPost UK previously, Eve Lepage, a reproductive health specialist at Clue, said she’d noticed more women receiving ADHD diagnoses during menopause and perimenopause.
“Oestrogen plays an important role in brain function, particularly in regulating dopamine, which is key for attention, motivation, and executive function,” she explained, adding that “hormonal changes can intensify symptoms”.
And now, King’s College London and Queen Mary University of London are working on a project called the Measuring Adult ADHD and Menstruation (MAAM) study.
They pointed out that while more boys receive ADHD diagnoses than girls, by the time women reach adulthood, the figures roughly even out.
But studies still underrepresent women with ADHD, so they wanted to look at “overlooked” topics, “including whether menstrual cycle hormonal changes make symptoms worse for women with ADHD”.
We still don’t know much about ADHD and periods
This first-of-its-kind research will ask women who take medication for ADHD to fill in questionnaires about their symptoms throughout their cycles for three months.
They’ll also use a smart ring, which participants will wear on their fingers, to “sense sleep patterns and physical activity”, which might make any links between ADHD symptoms and hormonal changes clearer.
“Many women with ADHD report their ADHD gets worse, or their medication doesn’t work as well, at certain times of their menstrual cycle. However, this has not been investigated in a research study,” King’s College London’s site reads.
They added that their findings could suggest women with ADHD need a different medication dosage depending on the stage of their cycle, that they might benefit from cycle tracking, and/or could benefit from sleep or exercise interventions.
We’ve already got some suggestions that ADHD symptoms might differ depending on hormones
A 2025 systematic review of 11 studies found “largely suggestive” evidence that hormone changes in women, e.g., during their menstrual cycle or menopause, may be linked to changes in ADHD symptoms.
There’s even evidence that perimenopause may begin earlier in people with ADHD.
But the authors of that 2025 review pointed out that “further research is needed to understand the relationship between sex hormones and ADHD symptoms and requires investigation of a wider range of hormonal milestones in females, including menopause.”
Here’s hoping research like MAAM can help to fill in existing blanks.
