title: Prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms in 4- to 17-year-old children in the general population.
abstract: The purposes of this study were (a) to estimate the prevalence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) symptoms in the general preschool and school population; and (b) to analyze the influence of gender, age, and socioeconomic status (SES) variables on AD/HD symptoms. Out of the 80,000 preschool and schoolchildren living in Manizales, Colombia, a random sample of 540 children was selected. Two gender, three age (4- to 5-year olds, 6- to 11-year olds, and 12- to 17-year olds), and three SES (low, middle, and high) groups were used. The 18 DSM-IV symptoms corresponding to AD/HD Criterion A were assessed on a scale of 0 (never) to 3 (almost always). All three demographic variables established statistically significant differences: AD/HD symptoms were more frequent in 6- to 11-year-old, low-SES, male participants. DSM-IV Criterion A for AD/HD was fulfilled by 19.8% of the boys and 12.3% of the girls. However, this difference was marginally significant only in the AD/HD Subtype I: Combined. It was concluded that demographic variables are significant correlates of the AD/HD diagnosis. The prevalence found in this study was higher than usually reported, even though only the symptomatic DSM-IV AD/HD criterion was analyzed. We failed to confirm the assumed AD/HD gender ratio.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pineda
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ardila
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rosselli
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Arias
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Henao
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Mejia
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Miranda
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class