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ADHD is a disease that has skyrocketed in just the past twenty years. And now, new data finds that more people are suffering from it than we thought.
In fact, more than one in ten children and teens in the US are now thought to suffer attention hyperactivity disorder.
This is a 43 percent increase in ADHD in children. Not only that, but there have been huge spikes in girls, Hispanics, and older children.
Diagnoses jumped to 12 percent of children in 2011 from 8.4 percent of children in 2003.
For girls, diagnoses went form 4.7 percent of girls in 2003 to 7.3 percent in 2011.
However, there are still more boys diagnosed than girls.
“The sharper increase among girls was a surprise primarily because ADHD is typically diagnosed among boys,” says study co-author Dr. Sean Clearly, a public health researcher at George Washington University. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
“One possibility to explain the increasing trend among females is a greater recognition of ADHD symptoms observed (e.g. withdrawn, internalizing) that are traditionally overlooked because they are not typically considered a sign of this condition.”
The study surveyed over 190,000 children from surveys in the US in 2003, 2007, and 2011.
There were increases across the board—as expected, the majority of the cases were white boys.
However, there was a spike in diagnoses for teens as well, both aged 10-14 and 15-17.
“Parents should be made aware of the findings in case they have a child or teenager that should be evaluated for the disorder, which can persist into adulthood,” said Dr. Clearly.
The study was only looking at the number of cases, and not the underlying cause. “Additional studies must be done to identify the underlying cause of the increase,” said Dr. Clearly.
