Background & Objectives: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common and probably the best understood disorder in childhood and adolescence. Due to its importance and complications, this study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of ADHD in elementary school children in Zanjan during 2004-2005
Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 428 elementary school children who had been selected through cluster random sampling. To collect the data Conner’s Teacher Racing Scale-38 (CTRS-38) and Conner’s Parent Rating Scale-48 (CPRS-48) were used. To determine hyperactivity disorder analysis of CTRS-38 and CPRS-48 were applied and to assess the frequency of anxiety and psychosomatic disorders parent’s scale was used. The association of these disorders with some demographic factors was analysed through test.
Results: The prevalence of ADHD, anxiety disorder and psychosomatic disorder through CPRS-48 were found to be 9.1%, 14.4% and 2.8% respectively. Hyperactivity disorder alone was 12.2 percent (through CPRS-48) and 4.9% of cases of both questionnaires received significant score. The prevalence rate of hyperactivity, anxiety disorder and psychosomatic disorder was higher in boys than in girls though not statistically significant. Hyperactivity disorder was correlated with anxiety disorder (P=0.001) poor educational status (P=0.001)and history of psychiatric disorder in siblings ( P=0.004). Other status variables (father,s job, size of family, housing , parents , history of psychiatric disease and educational grade ) had not significant association with the disorders.
Conclusion: This study demonstrates that ADHD is a moderately prevalent disorder in our studied society. Since the study was a questionnaire-based screening study , definite diagnosis should be obtained exclusively on the basis of psychiatric interview. However, the obtained results indicate the significance if timely diagnosis of the disorder and informing the parents and teachers.