ADHD Diagnosed in up to 10% of North Carolina Children
Originally published by Reuters Health, February 8, 2002
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) — As many as 10% of North Carolina school children have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and many of those youngsters are taking medication for the condition, researchers report.
This percentage is significantly higher than national estimates of 3% to 5%. Yet the new report, as well as a handful of other regional studies, indicate that ADHD diagnosis and treatment may be much more common than previously thought, the investigators note.
"We found that 10% of elementary school children…had received a diagnosis of ADHD by a doctor or psychologist and 7% of the children were being treated for ADHD with medication," study author Dr. Andrew Rowland told Reuters Health.
The new findings "make me question whether the 3% to 5% figure could possibly be valid," said Dr. Rowland, an epidemiologist at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, who conducted the study while at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
The results add fuel to ongoing concerns that too many children are being treated for the disorder.
"Medication treatment often is very helpful for children who have ADHD," Dr. Rowland said. "But on the other hand, if it's not followed-up well and the diagnosis is not made according to standardized criteria, that's when you start to have problems."
In the study, conducted from 1997 to 1999, parents of 6099 children in grades 1 through 5 at 17 public elementary schools in Johnston County, North Carolina, completed a survey, which asked if their children had ever been diagnosed with ADHD and if they were currently taking medication to treat the disorder.
The results, published in the February issue of the American Journal of Public Health, journal of the American Public Health Association, showed that 607 children, or 10%, had been diagnosed with ADHD and 434, or 7%, were taking Ritalin or other treatment medication.
Boys were three times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls, and both sexes were about equally likely to receive medication after diagnosis. However, black and Hispanic children received fewer prescriptions than white youngsters, perhaps because they had less access to healthcare, the researchers suggest.
Johnston County has both rural and urban areas, and its ethnic population is similar to that of most of North Carolina, according to Dr. Rowland. As a result, he said, the findings probably apply to the rest of the state and perhaps neighboring states in the South as well.
He said his findings are in line with other regional studies, such as a 1995 Virginia study showing that 8% to 10% of young school children were taking medication for ADHD.
However, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) estimates the prevalence of ADHD at 3% to 5%, Dr. Rowland noted.
The problem, he said, is that solid national data on ADHD do not exist.
"We really need other studies like ours and national monitoring data to know whether the experience we saw is unusual," Dr. Rowland said. "Having that information is important for understanding the dimensions of the impact of ADHD."
