Sam Hawley

Thanks for listening.

Over the past eight years, the diagnosis of ADHD among Australian adults has surged, especially among women.

And you might be surprised to find out where the ADHD capitals are in Australia.

Today, Norman Swan on his Four Corners investigation into data that's never been collated before and whether it shows ADHD is being overdiagnosed.

I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney.

This is ABC News Daily.

Norman, Frio or Fremantle in Perth, it's this old port area, although it's pretty ritzy nowadays, but you have found something really unique about the suburb, haven't you?

Because it has a much higher rate of people diagnosed with ADHD than anywhere else in the country.

Hmm.

Right.

Yeah.

So in a suburb like Fremantle, experts would expect a rate of around 2.5% as everywhere else, but it's at 4.4%.

On average.

On average.

So the question is, of course, why, which we will get to.

But before we go on, I guess, why don't we just reflect on what the symptoms of ADHD are so we can get a better understanding of exactly what it is?

Okay, well, Norman, let's return to Fremantle, because as you said, experts would expect about 2.5% on average of the population to have ADHD there, but it's far, far higher.

But what about other places?

Now, you spoke to Dr Michael Folster from UNSW, and he has really been analysing this data, I suppose, to find the hotspots across the country.

So what has he found?