Impact Of Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity May Be Underestimated

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Impact Of Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity May Be Underestimated

February 4, 2002

BETHESDA, MD (NIH) -- The public health impact of Attention

Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder may be greatly underestimated by school and

public health officials, scientists at the National Institute of

Environmental Health Sciences said today.

The NIEHS scientists and colleagues at the University of North Carolina

School of Medicine in Chapel Hill reported that when they queried parents in

a " typical " county of rural and suburban homes -- ston County, N.C. --

the parents reported more than 15 percent of boys in grades one through five

had been diagnosed with ADHD and about 10 percent (or two-thirds of those

diagnosed) were taking medication for the condition. Asking the parents was

a key to the higher figures, the researchers thought, because school nurses

might not be aware of children who are receiving medication treatment

entirely at home.

" Treatment rates are usually viewed as abnormally high if they exceed the

three to five percent prevalence estimate for ADHD cited in an American

Psychiatric Association manual in 1994, " the authors said. " Therefore, the

national public health impact of ADHD may be greatly underestimated by both

educators and public health officials. "

The information gathered from parents also indicated:

--About five percent of the girls were diagnosed with ADHD, compared to 15

percent of the boys. Also three times as many boys as girls take medication

to treat the condition.

--Overall, over nine percent of all fourth and fifth grade children in

ston County were taking medication to treat ADHD. In these two grades,

parents reported over 15 percent of white boys were taking stimulant

medication.

--The percentage of children diagnosed with ADHD was similar among

African-American children and white children, but eight percent of white

children in the sample were receiving medication treatment compared to five

percent of African-American children. Only two percent of Hispanic children

were taking medication to treat ADHD.

The study utilized parental and teacher reports of 6,099 children in 17

public elementary schools in the semi-rural county. Because ston County

has a racial/ethnic and educational profile similar to North Carolina as a

whole, the authors of the study said they feel that medication treatment

rates are probably similar in many other counties in North Carolina and

elsewhere. The researchers said similar data needs to be collected

nationally to better understand ADHD medication treatment patterns.

Authors of the study are S. Rowland, Ph.D.; Dale P.Sandler, Ph.D.;

and M. Umbach, Ph.D., of NIEHS, which is part of the National

Institutes of Health but located in Research Triangle Park, N.C., near

ston County; A. Jack Naftel, M.D., of the department of psychiatry,

University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill; and Lil

Stallone, M.P.H., and E. Bohlig, both of the private research firm

CODA/Westat of Durham, N.C.

The research appears online in the February issue of the American Journal of

Public Health, a publication of the " American Public Health Association " .

http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/8895/345548.html