Citation

Ercan ES, Bilaç Ö, Uysal Özaslan T, Rohde LAP. Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol. 2015; 50(7): 1145-1152.

Affiliation

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey, eyercan@hotmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00127-015-1071-9

PMID

26002410

Abstract

PURPOSE: Previous findings in Turkish samples of children have suggested higher prevalence of ADHD than those detected in Western cultures.

METHODological problems might explain these findings. Here, we aimed to re-check the prevalence rate of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) along with other childhood psychiatric disorders in a representative school sample of elementary school children in İzmir, Turkey.

METHOD: The sample consisted of 419 randomly selected primary school children aged 6-14-year-old. We were able to interview 417 cases (99.5 % of the sample). Psychiatric diagnoses in children were assessed using the K-SADS-PL (Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children- Present and Lifetime Version) and an impairment criterion scale.

RESULTS: The prevalence rates of ADHD were 21.8 and 12.7 % in children without and with impairment, respectively. The following major mental disorders were significantly more prevalent in ADHD cases than controls: oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) (9.4 versus 0 %), conduct disorder (15.1 versus 0 %), anxiety (17 versus 0.5 %), and mood (5.7 versus 0.8 %).

CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirmed a substantially higher ADHD prevalence rate (more than double) than the suggested pooled worldwide prevalence, although similar to the one recently detected in a representative populational sample of children in the US (11 %). These findings, consistent with previous developmental epidemiology studies from Turkey, confirm that ADHD is highly prevalent in Turkish elementary school children.

Language: en