Common Danish standards in prescribing medication for children and adolescents with ADHD

Assessing whether symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children are age-inappropriate is essential. Hence, comparing children within one school grade is problematic and the risk of applying relative standards is inherent. Being young-for-grade increases the likelihood of re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European child & adolescent psychiatry 2014-09, Vol.23 (9), p.841-844
Main Authors: Dalsgaard, Søren, Humlum, Maria Knoth, Nielsen, Helena Skyt, Simonsen, Marianne
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Age
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - drug therapy
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - epidemiology
Attention deficit disorders. Hyperactivity
Biological and medical sciences
Brief Report
Central Nervous System Stimulants - therapeutic use
Child
Child & adolescent psychiatry
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Child clinical studies
Children & youth
Denmark - epidemiology
Drug Utilization
Female
Humans
Hyperactivity
Male
Medical sciences
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental health
Organization of mental health. Health systems
Practice Patterns, Physicians' - standards
Prescriptions - standards
Prevalence
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Quality Assurance, Health Care - standards
Referral and Consultation - statistics & numerical data
Schools
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
Teenagers
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Summary:Assessing whether symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children are age-inappropriate is essential. Hence, comparing children within one school grade is problematic and the risk of applying relative standards is inherent. Being young-for-grade increases the likelihood of receiving medication in countries with high prevalence of ADHD medication. We test the same hypothesis in a cohort of 418,396 children and find no difference between children who are young-for-grade and old-for-grade. The Danish system, with its restrictive approach to medication and clear diagnostic guidelines seems to have avoided a systematic bias of ADHD medication in young children reported in other countries.
ISSN:1018-8827
1435-165X
DOI:10.1007/s00787-013-0508-5