Prevalence of ADHD among Children

Mental Health and Society

Mental health is one of the most important aspects of the overall health and wellbeing of children, adolescents, and adults. For children and adolescents, mental health is crucial towards their cognitive and psychological development. However, a significant portion of children and adolescents suffer from mental health disorders that affect their overall health and wellbeing as well as development. According to O’Keeffe, it is estimated that 10% children between 5 and 15 years suffer from a mental health disorder while nearly 50% of all lifetime psychiatric disorders or illnesses start by mid adolescence (p.1). Since most of these mental health disorders can persist into adulthood and in turn cause long-term morbidity, early diagnosis and treatment is considered vital towards enhancing the overall health of children and adolescents. This paper examines the prevalence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), its significance to public health, and a data source that can be utilized to monitor it.

Prevalence of ADHD among Children and/or Adolescents

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is regarded as one of the most common neurobehavioral disorder among children and generates severe negative effects on children, adolescents, and even adults. Given its severe negative effects, this mental health condition can generate serious economic burdens on the affected families and the society. This mental health condition is characterized by over-activity, inattentiveness, impulsivity or a combination of all these symptoms (O’Keeffe, p.2). The impairing symptoms from this mental health condition can persist into adolescents and adulthood in 60% of the cases. In the remaining cases, the overt hyperactivity is substituted by inner restlessness, impatience, and emotional deregulation into adulthood. Notably, the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder affect a child or adolescent’s academic, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and social functioning. ADHD is regarded as a serious mental health condition among children since it affects between 3% and 5% of school age population (O’Keeffe, p.2). However, the reported prevalence of this neurobehavioral disorder among children differs from 2% to 18% based on the utilized diagnostic criteria and the examined population. As of 2017, the prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among school-age children is estimated to range from 8% to 11%, which implies that it’s one of the most common mental health disorders among children (Krull, Augustyn & Torchia par, 4). Based on the findings of a meta-analysis of 175 studies from a wide geographic distribution include Europe and Asia, the projected pool prevalence of this condition was 7.2%.

The 2011 National Survey of Children’s Health demonstrated that the prevalence of a parent-reported diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among U.S. children aged 4 to 17 years was 11%. This represented a significant increase i.e. 42% in comparison to the 2003 National Survey of Children’s Health. The survey also indicated that nearly one-third of children were diagnosed with this condition before six years. Boys account for a significant portion of ADHD cases at 15.1% while girls account for 6.7%. Additionally, the prevalence of the condition increases with age i.e. 7.7% among 4 to10 year olds, 14.3% among 11-14 year olds, and 14.0% among 15 to 17 years olds (Krull, Augustyn & Torchia par, 5).

Importance of the Condition and its Prevalence to Public Health

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder among children is a major public health issue given its devastating impact on the overall health and wellbeing of this population. As previously mentioned, this condition has devastating impacts on the affected children because it interferes with their academic, cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and social functioning. Secondly, this issue remains a major public health concern because it negatively impacts affected families and the society. Since its negative impacts can persist into adulthood, ADHD among children generates financial burdens upon families and the society, which makes it a major public health concern. In this regard, professionals in public health are increasingly looking for measures to prevent and mitigate the prevalence and impacts of this condition. Through its negative impacts on children, families and the society, ADHD generates additional burdens to the public health sector.

ADHD among children is considered a public health issue because it generates individual and system cost burdens (Hinshaw, Peele & Danielson par, 1). The costs associated with this disorder are both direct and indirect since they arise in different ways given its numerous short and long-term manifestations. Additionally, this condition is a public health concern because it has broader implications at the population level, which necessitates the need to identification of a suitable treatment approach. Therefore, the most important public health issue or concern relating to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among children is the treatment of the disorder and the associated costs.

Data Source for Monitoring ADHD

An important aspect towards addressing the prevalence of this condition among children is the identification and establishment of a data source for monitoring it over time. A data source that can be utilized to monitor attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among children is the National Survey of Children’s Health. This is a suitable data source for this condition since it’s a national survey that offers a wide range of information regarding the health and wellbeing of children in relation to various health conditions (Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health par, 3). Information obtained from the survey can help in monitoring the condition since it’s collected in a manner that promotes comparison between states and national data regarding children’s overall health and well-being in relation to several conditions.

The first National Survey of Children’s Health to be carried out was between 2003 and 2004 through English and Spanish telephone interviews. In this case, telephone numbers were randomly called to identify households with children below 18 years who were then randomly selected to participate in the interview. The findings from the surveys are then weighted to reflect the population of non-institutionalized children between ages 0 and 17 across the nation.

One of the advantages of using the National Survey of Children’s Health to monitor this condition is that it provides rich information on various, intersecting aspects of the lives of children. This data include their physical and mental health, their families, neighborhood, social context and school, and access to quality healthcare (Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health, par 1). This helps in obtaining a deeper understanding of the condition based on the various aspects in the child’s life. Secondly, it provides an appropriate framework for understanding the prevalence of the condition since data is presented on a national level. The weighing of the survey results to reflect children population nationally and in each of the 50 states as well as the District of Columbia provides a suitable avenue for examining and understanding the prevalence of this mental health condition. Third, this information is easily accessible since it’s available to the public on the Data Resource Center’s website.

Even though this data source provides valuable information for monitoring the condition, there are some disadvantages associated with it. One of the disadvantages of the National Survey of Children’s Health is that it’s not disease-specific. While it provides information regarding the overall health and well-being of children, the survey does not provide disease-specific information since it’s not designed to examine a particular disease. Therefore, the survey may not provide detailed information regarding the condition, but an overall outlook based on the findings of the interviews. Secondly, the sampling and data-collection approach does effectively represent the target population. The survey relies on State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey (SLAITS), which does not provide an appropriate framework for sampling the target population of children suffering from ADHD. Third, the survey does not include data from healthcare facilities or professionals who attend to patients with this disorder.