OBJECTIVES To compare Quality of Life (QOL) and societal costs in an ADHD population to a control group representing the general population. METHODS An online cross-sectional retrospective study among parents of children with ADHD was conducted via Balans, a Dutch ADHD organization. Because of large differences in responder groups in the initial study, comparison with a control group was added to understand the impact of ADHD compared to the general population in greater detail. Therefore, a separate online research among parents of children without ADHD or any other chronic disease was performed. The control group was selected on the basis of pre-defined characteristics in order to match the ADHD group. QoL (EQ-5D for children and parents and KIDSCREEN-10 for children) and societal costs (TiC-P) were surveyed based on proxy reporting. In this study, monthly resource use of patients and their parents was identified. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test and Chi-square for p-values (sig. 2-tailed) were used for analysis on significance in differences between samples. RESULTS The ADHD sample (n=618) was compared to the control group (n=704). Both groups primarily contained boys with a mean age of 11 years. QOL differed significantly between children with ADHD and the control group, both for EQ-5D (ADHD 0.80 vs. controls 0.96; p<0.000) and KIDSCREEN-10 (ADHD 41.67 vs. controls 55.46; p<0.000). The same is true for their parents (ADHD 0.83 vs. controls 0.88; p<0.000). Total monthly costs associated with ADHD differed significantly as well, both for children (ADHD €518 vs. controls €91; p<0.000) and parents (ADHD €288 vs. controls €49; p<0.000). CONCLUSIONS Although this was not a direct comparative study, the magnitude of differences in absolute results seem to justify the conclusion that ADHD accounts for significantly higher costs and lower QoL for patients, parents and society compared to a control group representing the general population.