Prevalence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and its Comorbidity among Korean Children in a Community Population.
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) in children according to socio-demographic factors and the distribution of ADHD subtypes in a community in Korea. A screening survey using the Korean version of ADHD Rating Scale (K-ARS) was conducted between 2007 and 2008, and clinical interviews by a pediatric psychiatrist were performed for selected children between 2009 and 2010. A total of 49,573 elementary school students, between ages of 7 and 12, constituted the target population, among which 38,365 students (77.2%) and respective parents gave consent to participate. Of the participants, 200 screened children were clinically examined to confirm the diagnosis of ADHD. We estimated the prevalence of ADHD and its comorbidity in the population, after adjusting for nonresponse and nonparticipation. The prevalence of ADHD was 11.7% in boys and 5.2% in girls, with an overall prevalence of 8.5%. The combined type of inattentive and hyperactive was the most frequent at 4.7% of the whole population. Children were more likely to have ADHD if their parents were separated and had less education. Most commonly combined comorbidity was autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (10.1%). The prevalence of ADHD in the school-aged population is an essential information for improving the quality of public health mental services for evaluation and treatment of ADHD.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Seonam University College of Medicine, Myongji Hospital, Goyang, Korea.
Moon Jung
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4148-9116
MJ
Kim
Department of Statistics, Pukyong National University College of Natural Science, Busan, Korea.
Inho
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4216-915X
I
Park
Department of Psychiatry, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.|Environmental Health Center, Dankook University Medical Center, Cheonan, Korea.
Myung Ho
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5370-4376
MH
Lim
Department of Psychiatry, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.|Environmental Health Center, Dankook University Medical Center, Cheonan, Korea.
Ki Chung
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0465-8371
KC
Paik
Environmental Health Center, Dankook University Medical Center, Cheonan, Korea.
Sungja
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9673-6976
S
Cho
Environmental Health Center, Dankook University Medical Center, Cheonan, Korea.|Department of Preventive Medicine, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.
Ho Jang
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3029-5674
HJ
Kwon
Department of Hospital Management, Yonsei University Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul, Korea.
Sang Gyu
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4847-2421
SG
Lee
Environmental Health Center, Dankook University Medical Center, Cheonan, Korea.
Seung Jin
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0643-5609
SJ
Yoo
Environmental Health Center, Dankook University Medical Center, Cheonan, Korea.|Department of Preventive Medicine, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea. minaha@dku.edu.
Mina
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1011-9446
M
Ha
D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D044466:Asian People; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
ADHD; Comorbidity; Korea; Prevalence