Prevalence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and associated risk factors among children were attended the general pediatric outpatient clinic of Menoufia University Hospital. Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is the most commonly seen developmental disorders, with significant impacts on the child's social, psychological, and scholastic functioning. Methods: The study was conducted on 600 children (5-12 years) were attended the general pediatric outpatient clinic of Menoufia University Hospital. All studied patients were subjected to adequate history taking, full clinical examination, a questionnaire regarding socioeconomic, family and maternal variables and a parent-completed, ADHD Rating Scale of attention deficit hyperactivity symptoms was used. Results: The study revealed that the prevalence of probable ADHD in our study was 19.7%. and was higher in males than in females with a ratio 2.7:1. The most common type of probable ADHD was the combined type and the least frequent type was the inattentive type. There were many factors that were sought to be associated with increase possibility of developing ADHD. Conclusion: The present study shows a high prevalence of probable ADHD in children. our study also revealed that probable ADHD was associated with many risk factors, prevalence was high in the male sex, living in urban areas, low socioeconomic families, large family size, living with a single parent, family history of ADHD, preterm children, low birth weight and bottle fed children.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) among Children Aged 6 to 17 Years Old Living in Girja District, Rural Ethiopia

“…Gender was associated with ADHD, and males were almost two times more likely to have ADHD than females. This explanation agreed with several other studies [15, 16, 20]. This may be due the anatomical nature of maleness which is a risk for ADHD; a former study explained that the slightly larger heads of males might have put males more susceptible to pressure and head injury at birth [34].…”

“…However, this finding was higher than the study done in Butajira, southern Ethiopia which was 1.5% [21] and Nigeria which was 3.2%. On the other hand, this finding was lower than in Venezuela, 10.03% [10]; in Saudi Arabia [11] and in Jeddah, 11.6% [12]; in Iran, 17%-25.8% [13]; in Nigeria, 23.15% [16]; and in Egypt, 19.7% [20]. The variation might be because of sociocultural differences, age demarcations, differences in sample size, and differences in the data collection tools used, like the use of some diagnosis criteria tools.…”

“…However, it ranges from 45.5% to 100.0% among special populations of children with possible organic brain injury [14]. The prevalence of ADHD was reported to be 6.9% in Egypt [15], 3.2 to 23.15% in Nigeria [16, 17], 6.3% in Kenya [18], 6% in Congo [19], 19.7% in Egypt [20], and 1.5% in Ethiopia among children aged 5 to 14 years [21].…”

“…The main factors mentioned to have an association with ADHD across studies were diagnostic criteria, source of information, and origin of the studies [23]. Other demographic variables like parents' low education, mother's occupation, and low socioeconomic status [11], as well as gender (male gender), child rank (birth order), mother's education level, and living with a single parent [13, 20, 24] were all risk factors of ADHD. Family-related factors like mother's smoking and drinking behavior, nonvaginal delivery, and late starting of school discussed in [25]; watching television/playing video games, participation in sports, and two-parent family structure discussed in [26]; and parental psychiatric disorders, previous abortion, unwanted pregnancy, history of trauma, cesarean delivery, substance use during pregnancy, head trauma, and epilepsy discussed in [27] all contributed to the risk of ADHD.…”

Parents Adjustment for Caring of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Children

“…It is typically 4 times more common in boys than it is in girls, an estimated 50% of the children's diagnosed with ADHD continue to have symptoms in adulthood. National Initiative for children's health care quality reveals that ADHD affects from 4%to 12% of all school age childrens [1]. This means that in a class of 30 children, one or more will have the condition .Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder cannot sit still without destruction and messy environment.…”