Nearly 1 million ADHD misdiagnoses, study says

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Nearly 1 million ADHD misdiagnoses, study says

CNN recently reported that many psychologists are seeing a lot of misdiagnoses

of ADHD. Readers had a lot to say about that.

Now studies are backing up anecdotal evidence that ADHD gets inappropriately

applied to many children.

An analysis by economist Todd Elder at Michigan State University suggests that

about 900,000 children who have been told they have ADHD in America may not have

the condition at all. The study will appear in the Journal of Health Economics.

Elder found that how old a child is relative to peers in the same class also

affects teacher perception of ADHD symptoms. In other words, teachers tended to

perceive ADHD symptoms more in younger kids than older kids, even in the same

grade. Younger children were also more likely to take stimulant medication for

ADHD. The study authors suggest that children who are young for their grade may

get an inappropriate diagnosis because teachers mistake their immaturity for

ADHD.

The age at which a child starts school influences teachers' perceptions of

whether the child has ADHD-related symptoms, but does not as strongly affect the

parents' perceptions, the study said. Data for this research came from the Early

Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort.

Another study in the Journal of Health Economics, led by at the

University of Notre Dame, found similar results regarding the age of the child

and the likelihood of ADHD diagnosis. Researchers looked at data from the

National Health Interview Survey, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, and a

nationwide private insurance company.

Both Elder's and ' studies found that being young in a grade more than

doubles the likelihood of receiving an ADHD diagnosis or treatment. ' study

says:

Since ADHD is an underlying neurological problem where incidence rates

should not change dramatically from one birth date to the next, these results

suggest that age relative to peers in class, and the resulting differences in

behavior, directly affects a child’s probability of being diagnosed with and

treated for ADHD.

The cost of a misdiagnosis on the health and well-being of a child is

tremendous, Elder writes. Chronic stimulant medication for ADHD may lead to

possible cardiovascular problems and a reduction of children's growth rates,

studies have found. These medications also take a substantial toll on the

family. Elder estimates that $320 million to $500 million is annually spent on

ADHD treatments for children who inappropriately received the diagnosis.