title: Prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder among children with vision impairment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the prevalence of parent-reported attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in two clinics in Alabama serving children with vision impairment.
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of children 4-17 years of age attending the Alabama School for the Blind (ASB) during the 2010-2011 school year or seen at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation between 2006 and 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. Sociodemographics, ocular characteristics, and parental report of ADHD diagnosis were obtained. The prevalence of ADHD was compared to national and state figures for age-similar children regardless of comorbidities. The prevalence of ADHD, sociodemographic, and ocular characteristics was also compared between clinical sites.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 264 children participated in the study (95 from ASB and 169 from UAB). The prevalence of ADHD among children with visual acuity better than hand motion (n = 245) was 22.9%, which is higher than reported state (14.3%) and national prevalence (9.5%) for children in this age range. The prevalence was similar at ASB (22.4%) and UAB (23.1%). Those with ADHD were similar to those without ADHD with respect to age, sex, and race. Children with ADHD were significantly less likely to have nystagmus and more likely to have better visual acuity (P < 0.05). The prevalence of ADHD among the 19 participants with total or near total vision loss (all from ASB) was 10.5%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our analyses suggest that children with vision impairment may be more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than children in the general population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Department of Optometry, School of Optometry, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Electronic address: ddecarlo@uab.edu.
authors.forename: Dawn K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: DeCarlo
authors.affiliation: Department of Vision Science, School of Optometry, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bowman
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: Cara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Monroe
authors.affiliation: Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind, Talladega, Alabama.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kline
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McGwin
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Owsley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D015354:Vision, Low / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*