Prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among children and adolescents in Spain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological studies.
BACKGROUND
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a commonly diagnosed neuropsychiatric disorder in childhood, but the frequency of the condition is not well established in many countries. The aim of the present study was to quantify the overall prevalence of ADHD among children and adolescents in Spain by means of a systematic review and meta-analysis.


METHODS
PubMed/MEDLINE, IME, IBECS and TESEO were comprehensively searched. Original reports were selected if they provided data on prevalence estimates of ADHD among people under 18 years old in Spain and were cross-sectional, observational epidemiological studies. Information from included studies was systematically extracted and evaluated. Overall pooled-prevalence estimates of ADHD were calculated using random-effects models. Sources of heterogeneity were explored by means sub-groups analyses and univariate meta-regressions.


RESULTS
Fourteen epidemiological studies (13,026 subjects) were selected. The overall pooled-prevalence of ADHD was estimated at 6.8% [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.9 - 8.8%] representing 361,580 (95% CI 260,550 - 467,927) children and adolescents in the community. There was significant heterogeneity (P < 0.001), which was incompletely explained by subgroup analyses and meta-regressions.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that the prevalence of ADHD among children and adolescents in Spain is consistent with previous studies conducted in other countries and regions. This study represents a first step in estimating the national burden of ADHD that will be essential to building evidence-based programs and services.
Centro Superior de Investigación en Salud Pública, Valencia, Spain. ferran_catala@hotmail.com
Ferrán
F
Catalá-López
Salvador
S
Peiró
Manuel
M
Ridao
Gabriel
G
Sanfélix-Gimeno
Ricard
R
Gènova-Maleras
Miguel A
MA
Catalá
D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology