title: Common Danish standards in prescribing medication for children and adolescents with ADHD.
abstract: Assessing whether symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children are age-inappropriate is essential. Hence, comparing children within one school grade is problematic and the risk of applying relative standards is inherent. Being young-for-grade increases the likelihood of receiving medication in countries with high prevalence of ADHD medication. We test the same hypothesis in a cohort of 418,396 children and find no difference between children who are young-for-grade and old-for-grade. The Danish system, with its restrictive approach to medication and clear diagnostic guidelines seems to have avoided a systematic bias of ADHD medication in young children reported in other countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics and Business, National Centre for Register-based Research, School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Fuglesangs Allé 4 Building K, 8210, Aarhus, Denmark, sdalsgaard@ncrr.dk.
authors.forename: Søren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dalsgaard
authors.forename: Maria Knoth
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Humlum
authors.forename: Helena Skyt
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simonsen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards*; D055656:Prescriptions / Q000592:standards*; D015995:Prevalence; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012574:Schools
chemical_list: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants