title: The submerged dyslexia iceberg: how many school children are not diagnosed? Results from an Italian study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although dyslexia is one of the most common neurobehavioral disorders affecting children, prevalence is uncertain and available data are scanty and dated. The objective of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of dyslexia in an unselected school population using clearly defined and rigorous diagnostic criteria and methods.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross sectional study. We selected a random cluster sample of 94 fourth grade elementary school classes of Friuli Venezia Giulia, a Region of North Eastern Italy. We carried out three consecutive levels of screening: the first two at school and the last at the Neuropsychiatry Unit of a third level Mother and Child Hospital. The main outcome measure was the prevalence of dyslexia, defined as the number of children positive to the third level of screening divided by the total number of children enrolled.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We recruited 1774 children aged 8-10 years, of which 1528 received parents' consent to participate. After applying exclusion criteria, 1357 pupils constituted the final working sample. The prevalence of dyslexia in the enrolled population ranged from 3.1% (95% CI 2.2-4.1%) to 3.2% (95% CI 2.4-4.3%) depending on different criteria adopted. In two out of three children with dyslexia the disorder had not been previously diagnosed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that dyslexia is largely underestimated in Italy and underlines the need for reliable information on prevalence, in order to better allocate resources both to Health Services and Schools.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Institute for Maternal and Child Health - IRCCS "Burlo Garofolo", Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barbiero
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lonciari
authors.forename: Marcella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montico
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Monasta
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Penge
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vio
authors.forename: Patrizio Emanuele
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Tressoldi
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ferluga
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bigoni
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tullio
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carrozzi
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ronfani
mesh_terms: D019540:Area Under Curve; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D012372:ROC Curve; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires