ADHD May Be on the Rise in U.S. Children

According to a new study published in JAMA Network Open, diagnoses of children with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) have increased significantly since 1997. Researchers found that the diagnosis rate for children with ADHD increased from 6.1% in 1997 to 10.2% in 2016. However, according to Dr. Wei Bao, there could be lots of reasons for this dramatic rise. For example, doctors are much better at diagnosing ADHD than they were 20 years ago. Dr. Bao also said that more people today are aware of the condition and its symptoms, which can lead to more kids getting screened and subsequently diagnosed. Bao and his fellows are researchers at the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. They came to their conclusions by reviewing the National Health Interview Survey over 20 years. In particular, they honed in on answers to one question: Whether survey-takers' children had ever been diagnosed with ADHD or ADD (attention-deficit disorder). For scope, the most recent iteration of the survey from 2015-2016 collected data on over 18,000 children from age 4-17. Of that number, nearly 2,000 received an ADHD diagnosis. Though the research results are startling, experts advise parents and doctors to take the increase in children with ADHD with a grain of salt. This is because ADHD is commonly misdiagnosed.