[Prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and its comorbidities in a sample of school-aged children].
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a frequent condition in school-age children and commonly presents in comorbidity with other psychiatric diseases. In Brazil, there are few studies concerning non-clinical samples.


OBJECTIVE
The present study aims to calculate the prevalence of this disorder and its comorbidities in a sample of school-age children.


METHODS
Cross-sectional analytic study was conducted on a non-clinical sample of children and adolescents registered in 2003 in the elementary school of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. A screening questionnaire was used and parents of those possible affected children were invited for a clinical structured interview.


RESULTS
The prevalence of ADHD was 8.6%. Comorbidities were present in 58% of the cases and oppositional-defiant disorder was the most common, found in 38.5%.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of ADHD and its comorbidities in this sample is similar to that observed in the literature.
Pastura
Giuseppe
G
Departamento de Pediatria, Instituto de Puericultura e Pediatria Martagão Gesteira, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rua das Laranjeiras 314/802, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. giuseppe.pastura@terra.com.br
Mattos
Paulo
P
Araújo
Alexandra Prufer de Queiroz Campos
AP
D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires