From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, the rate of diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) soared 500 percent. Today 5 to 10 percent of all U.S. children between the ages of 6 and 18 have been diagnosed with ADHD. Research at the University of Notre Dame has concluded in many cases, diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in young children is wrong. Notre Dame economist William Evans (pictured), along with colleagues at North Carolina State University and the University of Minnesota, say approximately 1.1 million children from the late 1980s to the early part of this century could have been inappropriately diagnosed. Additionally, they say more than 800-thousand were given stimulant medication to address ADHD only because they were less mature than their peers. The researchers discovered that children who are “older for their grade” are less frequently diagnosed and treated for ADHD. Children born just after the cutoff date for enrollment and therefore relatively old for their grade had a significantly lower incidence of ADHD diagnosis and treatment than classmates born just before the cutoff and, therefore, young for their grade. All things being equal, such a disparity should not exist. The fact that it does suggests something other than the disorder is causing the increase in diagnosis. Full results of the research will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Health Economics. Here's a link to the release from the University of Notre Dame:
NOTRE DAME: ADHD MISDIAGNOSED
