TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2015//
TI  - Is the prevalence of ADHD in Turkish elementary school children really high?
JO  - Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology
A1  - Ercan, Eyüp Sabri
A1  - Bilaç, Öznur
A1  - Uysal Özaslan, Taciser
A1  - Rohde, Luis Augusto Paim
SP  - 1145
EP  - 1152
VL  - 50
IS  - 7
N2  - PURPOSE: Previous findings in Turkish samples of children have suggested higher prevalence of ADHD than those detected in Western cultures. <br><br>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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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 %). <br><br>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.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0933-7954
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00127-015-1071-9
ID  - ref1
ER  -