[Quality of life of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders].
OBJECTIVE
To assess the quality of life of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD).


METHODS
The PedsQL 4.0 generic core scales (Chinese Version) were administered to 73 ADHD children and 98 gender and age-matched healthy children. The parents of the children completed the Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire.


RESULTS
A total of 169 out of 171 recruited families completed the questionnaires, with a response rate of 98.8%. The ADHD children had significantly lower scores (72.7 +/- 13.0) of PedsQL 4.0 than that of the healthy children (83.7 +/- 12.0, t = -49.3, P = 0.000). The Parent Proxy-Report total score of the ADHD children (70.0 +/- 12.4) was also lower than the normal controls (82.4 +/- 11.2, t = -57.7, P = 0.000). The psychosocial health functioning of ADHD children (Children Self-Report 68.6 +/- 14.5, Parent Proxy-Report 64.9 +/- 15.4) was consistently poorer than the Physical Functioning (Children Self-Report 81.2 +/- 14.0, Parent Proxy- Report 81.7 +/- 15.6) (P = 0.000). The ADHD children had significantly higher scores in Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire (44.54 +/- 17.89) than the normal controls (16.09 +/- 9.23, t = 100.08, P = 0.000). The PedsQL 4.0 scores were negatively correlated with school functioning scores, learning problems, hyperactivity index and the total scores of Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire (r = -0.650, -0.630, and -0.599 respectively, P = 0.000).


CONCLUSIONS
ADHD children suffer from poor quality of life and learning difficulties.
Xin
Bo
B
Department of Psychiatry, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Guo
Lan-Ting
LT
Li
Xi-Rong
XR
Shan
You-He
YH
Fang
Hui
H
Liu
Ke-Zhi
KZ
Situ
Ming-Jing
MJ
D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires