Percentage of Youths Aged 5--17 Years Ever Diagnosed as Having a Learning Disability and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD),* by Sex -

QuickStats: Percentage of Youths Aged 5--17 Years Ever Diagnosed as Having a Learning Disability and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD),* by Sex --- National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2006--2009
Weekly
September 10, 2010 / 59(35);1148


* Estimates are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized U.S. population. One child aged <18 years was randomly selected per family; a parent or other knowledgeable adult provided information for each child. Prevalences of learning disability and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are based on questions that asked, "Has a representative from a school or a health professional ever told you that (the sample child) had a learning disability?" and "Has a doctor or health professional ever told you that (the sample child) had ...attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or attention deficit disorder (ADD)?," respectively. Unknowns with respect to learning disability and ADHD are excluded from the denominators.

† 95% confidence interval.

Among youths aged 5--17 years, during 2006--2009, boys were twice as likely as girls (18.2% versus 9.2%) to have been diagnosed with either a learning disability or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Approximately 5.7% of boys had a learning disability without ADHD, compared with 3.9% of girls, 7.0% of boys had ADHD without a learning disability compared with 2.8% of girls, and 5.5% of boys had both a learning disability and ADHD compared with 2.5% of girls.

SOURCE: National Health Interview Survey, 2006--2009. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm.

Alternate Text: The figure above shows the percentage of youths aged 5-17 years ever diagnosed as having a learning disability and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), by sex, in the United States from 2006-2009, according to the National Health Interview Survey. Among youths aged 5-17 years, boys were twice as likely as girls (18.2% to 9.2%) to have either a learning disability or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Approximately 5.7% of boys had a learning disability without ADHD compared with 3.9% of girls, 7.0% of boys had ADHD without a learning disability compared with 2.8% of girls, and 5.5% of boys had both a learning disability and ADHD compared with 2.5% of girls.