Prevalence Rate of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Among the Students of Primary Schools

Abstract

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is the most common psychiatric disorder in school age children. Because of the high prevalence of this disorder and its effect on the individual general function, this survey has been accomplished due to ADHD prevalent rate in the fourfold educational region, private and governmental primary school students in the different educational grades in both genders in Shiraz in 2001. 2182 primary school students including 1082 boys and 1099 girls were selected via randomly cluster sampling method. The data of this cross-sectional research has been collected through complied questionnaire based on the 18 DSM-IV ADHD symptoms and then clinical assessment of students and their parents by a child psychiatrist. The data of this investigation has been analyzed and evaluated via SPSS software. The results show that the general prevalence of ADHD has been 5.82%, which consists of 1.14% inattentive subtype, 0.45% hyperactive impulsive subtype and 4.21% combined subtype. Also the results show that there is a significant difference between boys (8.49%) and girls (3.18%) (P