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CDC supports continued surveillance of children with ADHD
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From 2011 through 2013, nearly 10% of children aged 4 to 17 years in the United States were diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, with boys diagnosed more than twice as often as girls, according to data from the CDC.
“Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is the most common neurobehavioral disorder diagnosed in U.S. children,” Patricia N. Pastor, PhD, of the CDC, and colleagues wrote. “While this disorder is most often diagnosed in children when they are in elementary school, it is increasingly being identified in preschool children.”
Pastor and colleagues gathered parent-reported data from a nationally representative health survey and assessed the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses in children aged 4 to 17 years during the period 2011 to 2013. They found that 9.5% of U.S. children in that age range had ever been diagnosed with ADHD.
The prevalence for ADHD was 2.7% among children aged 4 and 5 years, 9.5% for those aged 6 to 11 years and 11.8% among those aged 12 to 17 years.
Compared with 5.6% of the overall population of girls who had ever been diagnosed with ADHD, 13.3% of boys had ever been diagnosed. ADHD prevalence was lower among girls aged 6 to 11 years vs. girls aged 12 to 17 years (5.6% vs. 7.1%). Boys showed the same trend, with the younger age group having a lower prevalence of ADHD (13.2% vs. 16.3%).
In youth aged 6 to 17 years, ADHD was greatest in whites and lowest among Hispanics. Moreover, children with public insurance had the highest prevalence when compared with those with private insurance.
The briefing also reported that incidence for ADHD was lower among children aged 4 to 17 years who resided in a home with a family income at 200% or greater of the poverty threshold than it was for children with a family income less than 200% of the threshold (8.8% vs. 10.4%).
“In view of the economic and social costs associated with ADHD and the potential benefits of treatment, the continued surveillance of diagnosed ADHD is warranted,” the researchers wrote. – by Jennifer Southall
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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