title: Racial and ethnic disparities in parent-reported diagnosis of ADHD: National Survey of Children's Health (2003, 2007, and 2011).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder among children in the United States. While overall ADHD prevalence continues to rise, few have examined difference by race/ethnicity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine trends in parent-reported ADHD prevalence between 2003 and 2011 across racial/ethnic groups and the role of sociodemographic factors in observed differences in ADHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were from 3 waves of the National Survey of Children's Health (2003, 2007, and 2011), including 190,408 children aged 5-17 years. Independent variables included race/ethnicity (white non-Hispanic, black non-Hispanic, Hispanic, other non-Hispanic), gender, age, poverty level, primary language, insurance status, parental marital status, and neighborhood safety. Sociodemographic factors and year were compared among those diagnosed with ADHD and between racial/ethnic groups using χ(2) tests. Adjusted logistic regression models, stratified by race/ethnicity, were fit to examine the association between identified risk factors and ADHD across racial/ethnic groups. Parental report of an ADD or ADHD diagnosis for a child aged 5-17 years was the dependent variable. If the household included more than 1 child aged 5-17 years, 1 was selected at random.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Increasing trends were observed over the past decade in the prevalence of parent-reported ADHD overall (43%, P < .001), among children aged 10-14 years (47%, P < .001), and adolescents aged 15-17 years (52%, P < .001). Although the ADHD prevalence was still highest among whites, increasing trends were observed for all racial/ethnic groups, most notably among Hispanics, increasing 83% from 2003 to 2011 (P < .001). A greater increase in ADHD was also observed among females (55%, P < .001) than among males (40%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Economics, family status, non-English language in the home, and neighborhood safety factors differentially impacted diagnosed ADHD across racial/ethnic groups. Although new insights into the role of economic, family, and neighborhood factors on parent-reported ADHD diagnoses were noted, more research is needed to understand causes of the observed racial/ethnic disparities.
authors.affiliation: Mathematica Policy Research, Washington, DC.
authors.forename: Kevin P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Sean D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Cleary
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology*; D002648:Child; D000067576:Child Health / Q000639:trends*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology