Epidemiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder across the lifespan.
OBJECTIVE
Prevalence estimates of the attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the rate of persistence of symptoms across the lifespan are heterogeneous, raising questions about the validity of the diagnosis. This review aims to discuss potential reasons for variability in ADHD prevalence estimates and rates of symptom persistence, as well as to present ADHD prevalence rates during the lifespan.


RESULTS
The best available estimates of ADHD prevalence are around 5.29% for children and adolescents and 4.4% in adulthood. Estimates of ADHD prevalence and rate of symptom persistence over time seem to be highly affected by methodological characteristics of the studies.


CONCLUSIONS
The review of ADHD epidemiology highlights the need for standardizing study methodologies to make findings comparable. Even so, epidemiological cross-national data seem to support the validity of ADHD.
Polanczyk
Guilherme
G
ADHD Outpatient Program, Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Division, Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Rohde
Luis Augusto
LA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution