Yarrrr! Wednesday is ADHD Awareness Day!

by Karoli on September 18, 2007 · 1 comment

And Talk Like a Pirate Day, too. What an interesting mashup. Should I talk like a pirate about ADHD, or just post a typical drifty ADHD-type post? Hmmmm.

For ADHD Awareness Day, pay a visit to Adult ADD Strengths for resources for Adults with ADHD.

In other ADHD news, the federal government is funding an analysis of whether ADHD medications raise the risk of heart attack and/or stroke. Let’s hope they aren’t as rash as they were about the black-box warnings on antidepressants for teenagers. Tragically, it seems that teen suicide rates had a huge spike shortly after that warning was issued. While no one is claiming a direct correlation, it does seem as though one exists. If they do the same kind of crappy half-assed study of ADHD medications, much harm will be done to those children and adults who are directly benefitting. I’m all for behavior mods, but the fact is that for lots of us they don’t stick without the meds. Not everyone needs meds, but I’d sure hate for the ones who do to be the victims of the same kind of study that linked a higher risk of teen suicide with antidepressants.

Anyway, back to ADHD Awareness Day. Ty Pennington, perhaps the highest-profile public ADHDer at the moment, is hosting Shire’s annual ADHD Experts on Call. You can call between 8AM and midnight ET on Wednesday to ask questions of their experts on call. Yes, Shire manufactures AdderallXR, but don’t discount the value of the advice if you have questions. In the past, I’ve found them to be remarkably forthright and honest in their answers.

More to come Wednesday.

Technorati Tags: talklikeapirate, adhd awareness, september19

Tagged as: ADHD, Health

http://lizditz.typepad.com Liz D.

I was going to email this to you, but then I thought a blog comment might be more useful.

http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/9/857

Prevalence, Recognition, and Treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in a National Sample of US Children

Tanya E. Froehlich, MD; Bruce P. Lanphear, MD, MPH; Jeffery N. Epstein, PhD; William J. Barbaresi, MD; Slavica K. Katusic, MD; Robert S. Kahn, MD, MPH

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161:857-864.

Objective To determine the US national prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and whether prevalence, recognition, and treatment vary by socioeconomic group.

Design Cross-sectional survey.

Setting Nationally representative sample of the US population from 2001 to 2004.

Participants Eight- to 15-year-old children (N = 3082) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Main Outcome Measures The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (caregiver module) was used to ascertain the presence of ADHD in the past year based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) (DSM-IV) criteria. Prior diagnosis of ADHD by a health professional and ADHD medication use were assessed by caregiver report.

Results Of the children, 8.7% met DSM-IV criteria for ADHD. The poorest children (lowest quintile) were more likely than the wealthiest (highest quintile) to fulfill criteria for ADHD (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4-3.9). Among children meeting DSM-IV ADHD criteria, 47.9% had a prior diagnosis of ADHD and 32.0% were treated consistently with ADHD medications during the past year. Girls were less likely than boys to have their disorder identified (AOR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1-0.8), and the wealthiest children were more likely than the poorest to receive regular medication treatment (AOR, 3.4; 95% CI, 1.3-9.1).

Conclusions Of US children aged 8 to 15 years, 8.7%, an estimated 2.4 million, meet DSM-IV criteria for ADHD. Less than half of children meeting DSM-IV criteria report receiving either a diagnosis of ADHD or regular medication treatment. Poor children are most likely to meet criteria for ADHD yet are least likely to receive consistent pharmacotherapy.