Trends and regional variations in the administrative prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder among children and adolescents in Germany

Perspectives on ADHD in children and adolescents as a social construct amidst rising prevalence of diagnosis and medication use

The diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is based on the presence of pervasive, persistent symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity typically emerging early in life and resulting in significant functional impairment. In contrast to a worldwide epidemiological prevalence of approximately 5% in children and 2-3% in adults, there are significant variations in the prevalence of administrative ADHD diagnoses and medication use. We assert that in order to explore the underlying dynamics of this phenomenon, a thorough understanding of the construct ADHD is necessary. We contend that ADHD is not a natural entity that unfolds within an individual and can be understood independent from societal and environmental factors, but rather that ADHD as a diagnosis can better be conceptualized as a valid and pragmatically useful social construct. Decisions to diagnose and treat ADHD should follow a person-centered approach and be focused on functional impairment within a socially constructed, context-dependent and environmentally contingent model.

Disparities in the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses, suspicion, and medication use between Flanders and Québec from the lens of the medicalization process

The prevalence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnoses and medication use has increased over time around the world, but significant regional differences remain. This paper aims to determine and explain disparities in ADHD prevalence and medication use among school-aged children in two distinct school systems, in Flanders (Belgium) and Québec (Canada). We present detailed descriptive and comparative analyses of data from 35 schools, 114 teachers, and 1046 parents (children) that were collected as part of a comparative international project. The data concern teacher and parent suspicions, teachers' ratings of ADHD-related behaviors in children, teachers' views of medication use, and teachers' beliefs about ADHD. The results show that, compared with Flanders, Québec had significantly more children diagnosed with ADHD and more frequent suspicions of ADHD in children by teachers and parents. We refer to the conceptual, institutional, and interactional levels of medicalization to interpret our findings and conclude that social and cultural readings of children's behaviors differ greatly between regions. Medicalization of children's behaviors is more common in Québec than in Flanders.

Is it all about knowledge? A survey of attitudes toward ADHD among German pediatricians

Aim

Sometimes treatment is not necessarily according to guidelines, which is partly due to attitudes rather than lack of knowledge. In Germany, regional differences concerning prevalence rates of ADHD exist without valid explanation. We contribute with our data to the question of attitudes toward ADHD among pediatricians in Germany.

Method

A specially designed questionnaire based on the Knowledge of Attention Deficit Disorders Scale and previous surveys was sent to pediatricians. In addition to descriptive statistics, we performed factor analysis and multiple linear regression analysis.

Results

The vast majority (85.5%) of 581 respondents have a positive attitude toward ADHD, i.e., ADHD exists and should be treated appropriately. Physicians with positive attitudes were older and more often had a neuropediatric specialization.

Conclusion

Most of the pediatricians surveyed in Germany assess ADHD and treatment in line with medical guidelines and treat as part of multimodal therapy.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-022-01758-4.

The management of ADHD in children and adolescents: bringing evidence to the clinic: perspective from the European ADHD Guidelines Group (EAGG)

ADHD is the most common neurodevelopmental disorder presenting to child and adolescent mental health, paediatric, and primary care services. Timely and effective interventions to address core ADHD symptoms and co-occurring problems are a high priority for healthcare and society more widely. While much research has reported on the benefits and adverse effects of different interventions for ADHD, these individual research reports and the reviews, meta-analyses and guidelines summarizing their findings are sometimes inconsistent and difficult to interpret. We have summarized the current evidence and identified several methodological issues and gaps in the current evidence that we believe are important for clinicians to consider when evaluating the evidence and making treatment decisions. These include understanding potential impact of bias such as inadequate blinding and selection bias on study outcomes; the relative lack of high-quality data comparing different treatments and assessing long-term effectiveness, adverse effects and safety for both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments; and the problems associated with observational studies, including those based on large national registries and comparing treatments with each other. We highlight key similarities across current international clinical guidelines and discuss the reasons for divergence where these occur. We discuss the integration of these different perspective into a framework for person/family-centered evidence-based practice approach to care that aims to achieve optimal outcomes that prioritize individual strengths and impairments, as well as the personal treatment targets of children and their families. Finally, we consider how access to care for this common and impairing disorder can be improved in different healthcare systems.

Incidence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Diagnoses in Navarre (Spain) from 2003 to 2019

(1) Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) constitutes one of the leading mental health and behavioral disorders in childhood and adolescence. The main objective of this study was to analyze the time trend in the incidence of ADHD diagnoses in Navarre (Spain) from 2003 to 2019 in children and adolescents from 5 to 19 years old. Additionally, the seasonal trends of ADHD incidence and ADHD prevalence were determined. (2) Methods: A population-based observational retrospective study, which included people born between 1991 and 2011 and who attended compulsory education between 2007 and 2017 in Navarre (Spain), was carried out with data from both the Education and Health Department databases. (3) Results: The incidence rate increased from 4.18 cases per 1000 person-years in 2003 to 7.43 cases per 1000 person-years in 2009, before decreasing progressively to 2.1 cases per 1000 person-years in 2019. A peak incidence rate at 7–8 years of age was observed, which is consistent across the study period and for both genders. Males were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than females, with similar time trends in both. A seasonal pattern in ADHD diagnosis was found, with peaks in February–March and the lowest rates in the summer months. Inattentive cases were much more frequent than hyperactive cases, whereas combined cases remained low across the study period. (4) Conclusions: In this age-period-cohort analysis, a clear period and age effect was observed. We found a decreasing trend in the ADHD incidence rate since 2015. Further research is needed to confirm whether a change of trend is occurring globally.

Secular trends and regional variations in pharmacotherapy of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among children and adolescents in Germany

BACKGROUND

The study aim was to examine the secular trends and regional variations in pharmacotherapy of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Germany.

METHODS

We used nationwide drug prescription data of outpatient care (2009 to 2016). The study population comprised patients aged between 5 and 14 years with the diagnoses "hyperkinetic disorders" (ICD-10 code F90) (e.g. n = 262,766 in 2016). The examined drugs were methylphenidate, amphetamines, atomoxetine and guanfacine.

RESULTS

Overall, the proportion of patients received any prescription showed a decreasing trend over years (2010, 51%; 2016, 44%). The proportion of methylphenidate prescription was higher in Western than Eastern federal states. However, atomoxetine was more often prescribed in Eastern than Western federal states. The proportion of methylphenidate prescriptions issued by pediatric psychiatrists increased from 28% (2009) to 41% (2016).

CONCLUSION

A decreasing trend in use of pharmacotherapy may be explained by prescription restrictions issued by the Federal Joint Committee in recent years.

Overdiagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Scoping Review

IMPORTANCE

Reported increases in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses are accompanied by growing debate about the underlying factors. Although overdiagnosis is often suggested, no comprehensive evaluation of evidence for or against overdiagnosis has ever been undertaken and is urgently needed to enable evidence-based, patient-centered diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in contemporary health services.

OBJECTIVE

To systematically identify, appraise, and synthesize the evidence on overdiagnosis of ADHD in children and adolescents using a published 5-question framework for detecting overdiagnosis in noncancer conditions.

EVIDENCE REVIEW

This systematic scoping review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) Extension for Scoping Reviews and Joanna Briggs Methodology, including the PRISMA-ScR Checklist. MEDLINE, Embase, PsychINFO, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched for studies published in English between January 1, 1979, and August 21, 2020. Studies of children and adolescents (aged ≤18 years) with ADHD that focused on overdiagnosis plus studies that could be mapped to 1 or more framework question were included. Two researchers independently reviewed all abstracts and full-text articles, and all included studies were assessed for quality.

FINDINGS

Of the 12 267 potentially relevant studies retrieved, 334 (2.7%) were included. Of the 334 studies, 61 (18.3%) were secondary and 273 (81.7%) were primary research articles. Substantial evidence of a reservoir of ADHD was found in 104 studies, providing a potential for diagnoses to increase (question 1). Evidence that actual ADHD diagnosis had increased was found in 45 studies (question 2). Twenty-five studies showed that these additional cases may be on the milder end of the ADHD spectrum (question 3), and 83 studies showed that pharmacological treatment of ADHD was increasing (question 4). A total of 151 studies reported on outcomes of diagnosis and pharmacological treatment (question 5). However, only 5 studies evaluated the critical issue of benefits and harms among the additional, milder cases. These studies supported a hypothesis of diminishing returns in which the harms may outweigh the benefits for youths with milder symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

This review found evidence of ADHD overdiagnosis and overtreatment in children and adolescents. Evidence gaps remain and future research is needed, in particular research on the long-term benefits and harms of diagnosing and treating ADHD in youths with milder symptoms; therefore, practitioners should be mindful of these knowledge gaps, especially when identifying these individuals and to ensure safe and equitable practice and policy.

Psychiatric and Nonpsychiatric Comorbidities Among Children With ADHD: An Exploratory Analysis of Nationwide Claims Data in Germany

Objective: This study examined the full spectrum of comorbid disorders in all statutory-health-insured children aged 5 to 14 years with ADHD in 2017 by using nationwide claims data in Germany. Method: Children with ADHD (n = 258,662) were compared for the presence of 864 comorbid diseases with a control group matched by gender, age, and region of residence (n = 2,327,958). Results: Among others, metabolic disorders (odds ratio [OR] = 9.18; 95% confidence interval [CI] = [8.43, 9.99]), viral pneumonia (OR = 4.95; 95% CI = [2.37, 10.33]), disorders of white blood cells (OR = 4.55; 95% CI = [3.83, 5.40]), kidney failure (OR = 3.33; 95% CI = [2.65, 4.18]), hypertension (OR = 3.26; 95% CI = [3.00, 3.55]), obesity (OR = 2.85; 95% CI = [2.80, 2.91]), type 2 diabetes (OR = 2.61; 95% CI = [2.11, 3.23]), migraine (OR = 2.49; 95% CI = [2.37, 2.61]), asthma (OR = 2.19; 95% CI = [2.16, 2.22]), atopic dermatitis (OR = 2.10; 95% CI = [2.16, 2.23]), juvenile arthritis (OR = 1.56; 95% CI = [1.39, 1.76]), glaucoma (OR = 1.51; 95% CI = [1.30, 1.75]), and type 1 diabetes (OR = 1.30; 95% CI = [1.20, 1.40]) were more likely to be diagnosed in ADHD children. Conclusion: Along with psychiatric diseases, various somatic diseases were more common in ADHD children. The results have direct implications for patient care, including fine-grained diagnostics and personalized therapy.

Trends in Pediatric Primary Care Visits During the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 Pandemic

OBJECTIVE

Months after the declaration of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) national emergency, visits among children remained suppressed for unclear reasons, which we sought to understand by examining child visit rates.

METHODS

Using de-identified claims data for children <18 years old from OptumLabs® Data Warehouse, a large commercial claims database, we compared monthly primary care visit and vaccination rates from January-October 2020 to January-October 2018 and 2019. Visit rates were analyzed by visit reason and by the month after (eg, month +1) the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration using a series of child-level Poisson regression models.

RESULTS

There were 3.4, 3.4, and 3.1 million children in 2018, 2019, and 2020 cohorts, respectively. Compared to the same months in prior years, primary care visits in 2020 were 60% lower in month +1 (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 0.40, 99% confidence interval [CI] 0.40-0.40) and 17% lower in month +7 (IRR 0.83, 99% CI 0.83-0.83). Preventive visit rates were 53% lower in month +1 (IRR 0.47, 99% CI 0.47-0.47), but 8% higher than prior years in month +7 (IRR 1.08, 99% CI 1.08-1.08). Monthly rates of vaccine administration followed a similar pattern. Problem-focused visits remained 31% lower in month +7 (IRR 0.69, 99% CI 0.68-0.69), with notably fewer infection-related visits (acute respiratory tract infections IRR 0.37, 99% CI 0.36-0.37; gastroenteritis IRR 0.20, 99% CI 0.20-0.20).

CONCLUSION

Seven months after the COVID-19 emergency declaration, receipt of pediatric care remained suppressed due to fewer problem-focused visits, with notably fewer infection-related visits. By October 2020, rates of preventive visits and vaccination exceeded rates in prior years.

Trends in Psychotropic Medication Prescriptions in Urban China From 2013 to 2017: National Population-Based Study

Purpose: Psychotropic medications are commonly used for treating mental disorders; however, there is currently no study on how commonly they are used in China. This study reported the trends in psychotropic medications prescriptions in urban China. Methods: A national population-based study was conducted using the China Health Insurance Research Association database to estimate the period prescription prevalence of 11 major classes of psychotropic medications annually during 2013-2017. The World Health Organization Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification codes were used to identify psychotropic medications. Results: The prescription prevalence of any psychotropic medication increased from 8.110% (8.106-8.114%) in 2013 to 11.362% (11.357-11.366%) in 2017. The prescription prevalence of six classes increased significantly during 2013-2017, including sedatives-hypnotics (from 3.177 to 5.388%), anxiolytics (from 1.436 to 2.200%), antiepileptic drugs (from 1.416 to 2.140%), antipsychotics (from 0.809 to 1.156%), antidepressants (from 0.891 to 1.045%), and psycholeptic polypills (from 0.682 to 0.866%). The prescription prevalence of antidementia drugs increased from 0.069 to 0.122%, and mood stabilizers increased from 0.029 to 0.037%, although not statistically significant. The prescription prevalence of nootropic drugs, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications and drugs used in the treatment of addictive disorders was largely stable. Psychotropic medication prescription increased with age for all classes except for ADHD medications and mood stabilizers. Conclusion: Increasing trends in prescription prevalence were observed for most classes of psychotropic medications in urban China, although the prevalence was still lower than that in most developed countries. Further research is warranted to explore the potential treatment gap between China and most developed countries.

Temporal trends and geographical variability of the prevalence and incidence of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnoses among children in Catalonia, Spain

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common behavioral disorders in childhood. According to a recent systematic review, the worldwide estimate of ADHD prevalence is 7.2% in children. This study aims to assess the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses in 2017 and the incidence of ADHD diagnoses in 2009–2017 in children living in Catalonia, Spain, as well as their temporal and geographical variability, and stratifying by sex and age. We used administrative data for all children aged 4 to 17 years who were insured in the public Catalan Health System in 2009–2017. We identified all ADHD cases diagnosed in 2009–2017 (ICD-9 code 314). We estimated the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses in 2017 and the overall annual incidence of ADHD diagnoses in 2009–2017. We used Poisson regression models to assess temporal trends in the incidence. We estimated a prevalence of ADHD diagnoses of 4.06% (95%CI 4.03, 4.10) in 2017, being 5.81% (95%CI 5.75, 5.87) for boys and 2.20% (95%CI 2.16, 2.24) for girls, the highest prevalence being in 13-to-17-year-olds (7.28% (95%CI 7.20, 7.36)). We did not observe a statistically significant increase of the incidence of ADHD diagnoses during the study period. Geographical differences were found across the healthcare areas in both prevalence and annual incidence and constant during the study period. In conclusion, the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses observed in this study was 4.06%, which was lower than the estimates reported in previous systematic reviews, but in line with the prevalence estimates from other recent European studies. The prevalence was higher in boys than girls, with a sex ratio consistent with previous studies. We did not observe an increase in the temporal trend of incidence of ADHD diagnoses in recent years, but we found geographical differences.