Treated Prevalence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Increased from 2009 to 2015 Among School-Aged Children and Adolescents in the United States.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this brief is to describe changes in the treated prevalence of medically managed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among insured school-aged children and adolescents in the United States from 2009 to 2015. We examine the differences between those with employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) and with Medicaid insurance.


METHODS
We utilized two large longitudinal administrative datasets containing medical and drug claims data on individuals with ESI and Medicaid insurance from Truven Health MarketScan®Administrative Claims Databases. Treated prevalence was measured as the percentage of school-aged children and adolescents enrolled in a calendar year who met the criteria for medically managed ADHD in the same calendar year. Subjects were eligible for inclusion if they were aged 6-17 years and were continuously enrolled during a calendar year.


RESULTS
The annual prevalence of treated ADHD among school-aged children and adolescents with ESI increased from 4.5% in 2009 to 6.7% in 2015. Among those with Medicaid it increased from 11.3% in 2009 to 13.3% in 2012, and fell after 2012, remaining steady from 2013 through 2015.


CONCLUSIONS
Treated prevalence of ADHD increased continuously over time among school-aged children and adolescents with ESI, but declined slightly after 2012 among those in the Medicaid sample.
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Atlanta, Georgia .
Kwame A
KA
Nyarko
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Atlanta, Georgia .
Scott D
SD
Grosse
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Atlanta, Georgia .
Melissa L
ML
Danielson
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Atlanta, Georgia .
Joseph R
JR
Holbrook
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Atlanta, Georgia .
Susanna N
SN
Visser
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Atlanta, Georgia .
Stuart K
SK
Shapira
D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002648:Child; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D014481:United States
adolescents; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; children; treated prevalence; trend