October 5, 2004 – Boys are three times more likely than girls to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but the risk decreases as parents’ education level increases, says a team from the Mayo Clinic in a recent study.
American researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing the medical and educational records of 5,701 children born between 1976 and 1982 in Minnesota. Of this cohort, 305 children presented with diagnostic signs of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD / HD). The fact of being male born to parents with a low level of education represents the most determining factor linked to the risk of AD / HD according to the researchers. They believe that parents with little education may find it more difficult to provide adequate support to a child with symptoms of AD / HD.
The Mayo Clinic study also looked at other things long suspected of contributing to the risk of AD / HD: being in a single parent family, childbirth complications, low birth weight, being premature, or being twins. However, researchers have not been able to associate these characteristics with an increased risk of AD / HD.
The authors admit that their study does not explain why boys are more likely than girls to have ADD / HD. They only assume that both genetic and social reasons could be at the root of this vulnerability.
Since this behavioral disorder was identified in the early 1980s, its causes and treatments have been the source of debate both within the scientific community and among the general public. Making the diagnosis is in itself a relatively complex operation for treating physicians. Nevertheless, it is estimated that ADD / HD is the most common behavioral disorder in children and it affects 1.7% to 17% of them. It is usually diagnosed around the age of 4 to 6 years – and 4 to 10 times more often in boys than in girls, depending on whether it is clinical samples or epidemiological surveys.
Marie france Coutu – PasseportSanté.net
1. St Sauver JL, Barbaresi WJ, Katusic SK, Colligan RC, Weaver AL, Jacobsen SJ, Early life risk factors for attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder: a population-based cohort study, Mayo Clin Proc, Sept. 2004, Vol. 79, No. 9, 1124-31.
