Facts ADHD – Capella Project Post

1. Facts about ADHD (Source: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html)

The estimated number of children ever diagnosed with ADHD, according to a national
2016 parent survey is 6.1 million (9.4%). This number includes:
 388,000 children aged 2–5 years
 2.4 million children aged 6–11 years
 3.3 million children aged 12–17 years
Boys are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls (12.9% compared to 5.6%).

2. Many children with ADHD also have other disorders

According to a national 2016 parent survey,1 6 in 10 children with ADHD had at least
one other mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder:
 About 5 in 10 children with ADHD had a behavior or conduct problem.
 About 3 in 10 children with ADHD had anxiety.
Other conditions affecting children with ADHD: depression, autism spectrum
disorder, and Tourette syndrome.
(Pictures below is Percentage of children with ADHD and another disorder)
3. Treatment for ADHD (https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/guidelines.html)
Treatment for ADHD can include behavior therapy and medication. For children 6 years
of age and older, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends behavior
therapy and medication, preferably both together. For children under 6 years of age
behavior therapy is recommended as the first line of treatment.
4. What types of therapy are most effective for mental disorders in children?
(https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/parent-behavior-therapy.html)
Based on the scientific evidence available, different therapies seem to work well for
different types of problems:
 Parent training in behavior management works well for:
 ADHD; and
 Disruptive behavior disorders.
 Child behavior therapy works well for
 ADHD; and
 Disruptive behavior disorders.
 Cognitive-behavior therapy works well for
 Disruptive behavior disorder;
 Depression;
 Anxiety; and
 PTSD.
5. Finding the right therapy for your child: Therapy is most effective if it fits the needs of
the specific child and family. You can talk to your child’s healthcare provider as a first
step. Sometimes, health problems such as poor sleep, trouble breathing, poor vision,
difficulty hearing, or learning problems can cause behavioral or emotional symptoms, or
make them worse. Your child’s healthcare provider may want to find out if your child has
any health problems before referring your child for therapy.
6. What Can Be Done? (https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/adhd/index.html)
 Parents can talk with their child’s healthcare provider about the benefits of being trained
in behavior therapy for their young child with ADHD. Learn and use these strategies to
support their young child with ADHD.
7. Aetiology (Tarver, J.; Daley, D.; Sayal, K. (2014). Attention-deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD): an updated review of the essential facts. Child: Care, Health and
Development, 40(6), 762–774. doi:10.1111/cch.12139)
Despite being one of the most studied psychiatric disorders, the exact cause of ADHD is
still unknown (Thapar et al. 2013). Potential risk factors can be considered in terms of
biological and environmental factors (some of which we will discuss below) with
emerging aetiological research focusing on potential interactions and correlations
between inherited and noninherited factors which may heighten risk for ADHD.
 Genetics, With heritability estimates of around 0.7, ADHD is considered one of
the most heritable psychiatric conditions (Faraone et al. 2005).
 Brain structure, Neuroimaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) have identified a number of morphological abnormalities in the brains of
children with ADHD. While ADHD is associated with reduced global brain
volume (Castellanos et al. 2002), specific regional abnormalities have also been
identified, namely reduced grey matter in regions forming part of frontostriatal
circuits (Nakao et al. 2011).
 Pre-natal smoking, Maternal smoking during pregnancy has often been cited as a
potential environmental risk factor for ADHD in offspring, with estimated pooled
odds ratio of 2.39 (Langley et al. 2005).
 Prematurity/low birthweight, Low birthweight (LBW) has also been linked to
an increased risk for ADHD. Children born pre-term (<26 weeks and hence likely
to be have LBW) are approximately four times more likely to be diagnosed with
ADHD, particularly the inattentive subtype (Johnson et al. 2010).
 Diet, Despite this, many parents may report diet as a factor that exacerbates their
child’s ADHD symptoms (Daley 2006). Artificial food colourings have been
found to increase hyperactivity in both typically developing children (McCann et
al. 2007) and children already displaying high levels of hyperactivity, although
with a relatively small effect size (0.28; Schab & Trinh 2004).
 Familial environment/parenting, parenting practices are casual factors in
ADHD, or rather responsive to negative child behavior remains unclear.
Longitudinal evidence exploring the temporal relationship between parenting and
ADHD is beginning to emerge but thus far has produced relatively mixed findings
(Lifford et al. 2008; Keown 2012).