The Boston Globe (9/22, Albernaz) reports that a “new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics finds the vast majority of evaluations for AD/HD adhere to best practice guidelines, suggesting kids are, by and large, being carefully diagnosed.”
Rates of AD/HD diagnoses “have risen 5 percent per year since the late 1990s” although “diagnoses involving medication have risen 7 percent since 2007, said Susanna Visser, lead author of the report and an epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.” The Globe reports that approximately 8.8 percent of kids ages 4-17 are currently diagnosed with AD/HD, and “11 percent of kids in that age range have” yet to be diagnosed.
Related Links:
— “Children being carefully evaluated for ADHD, study says,” Ami Albernaz, Boston Globe, September 21, 2015.