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ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders

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01-03-2017 | Original Article

The descriptive epidemiology of DSM-IV Adult ADHD in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys

Authors: John Fayyad, Nancy A. Sampson, Irving Hwang, Tomasz Adamowski, Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, Ali Al-Hamzawi, Laura H. S. G. Andrade, Guilherme Borges, Giovanni de Girolamo, Silvia Florescu, Oye Gureje, Josep Maria Haro, Chiyi Hu, Elie G. Karam, Sing Lee, Fernando Navarro-Mateu, Siobhan O’Neill, Beth-Ellen Pennell, Marina Piazza, José Posada-Villa, Margreet ten Have, Yolanda Torres, Miguel Xavier, Alan M. Zaslavsky, Ronald C. Kessler, on behalf of the WHO World Mental Health Survey Collaborators

Published in: ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders | Issue 1/2017

Abstract

We previously reported on the cross-national epidemiology of ADHD from the first 10 countries in the WHO World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys. The current report expands those previous findings to the 20 nationally or regionally representative WMH surveys that have now collected data on adult ADHD. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) was administered to 26,744 respondents in these surveys in high-, upper-middle-, and low-/lower-middle-income countries (68.5% mean response rate). Current DSM-IV/CIDI adult ADHD prevalence averaged 2.8% across surveys and was higher in high (3.6%)- and upper-middle (3.0%)- than low-/lower-middle (1.4%)-income countries. Conditional prevalence of current ADHD averaged 57.0% among childhood cases and 41.1% among childhood subthreshold cases. Adult ADHD was significantly related to being male, previously married, and low education. Adult ADHD was highly comorbid with DSM-IV/CIDI anxiety, mood, behavior, and substance disorders and significantly associated with role impairments (days out of role, impaired cognition, and social interactions) when controlling for comorbidities. Treatment seeking was low in all countries and targeted largely to comorbid conditions rather than to ADHD. These results show that adult ADHD is prevalent, seriously impairing, and highly comorbid but vastly under-recognized and undertreated across countries and cultures.

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Title: The descriptive epidemiology of DSM-IV Adult ADHD in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys
Authors: John Fayyad
Nancy A. Sampson
Irving Hwang
Tomasz Adamowski
Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola
Ali Al-Hamzawi
Laura H. S. G. Andrade
Guilherme Borges
Giovanni de Girolamo
Silvia Florescu
Oye Gureje
Josep Maria Haro
Chiyi Hu
Elie G. Karam
Sing Lee
Fernando Navarro-Mateu
Siobhan O’Neill
Beth-Ellen Pennell
Marina Piazza
José Posada-Villa
Margreet ten Have
Yolanda Torres
Miguel Xavier
Alan M. Zaslavsky
Ronald C. Kessler
on behalf of the WHO World Mental Health Survey Collaborators
Publication date: 01-03-2017
Publisher: Springer Vienna
Published in: ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders / Issue 1/2017
Print ISSN: 1866-6116
Electronic ISSN: 1866-6647
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12402-016-0208-3

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

The descriptive epidemiology of DSM-IV Adult ADHD in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys

Abstract

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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