Attention Deficit–Hyperactivity Disorder and Month of School Enrollment | NEJM

Attention Deficit–Hyperactivity Disorder and Month of School Enrollment | NEJM





Good morning! Andrew Joseph here filling in for Megan.
You can reach me at andrew.joseph@statnews.com.

Study points to possible ADHD overdiagnosis

A new study found that children who start school younger than their classmates are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, possibly indicating overdiagnosis of the condition. For the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers looked at diagnoses among more than 400,000 kids and at whether their states had September 1 birthdate cutoffs to start school (meaning that children who start school at the same time might be almost a full year apart). They found that in states with cutoffs, the ADHD rate was 85.1 per 10,000 for children born in August (the younger kids) and 63.6 per 10,000 for children born in September (the older kids). It's possible, the researchers said, that normal behavior differences based on age are being mistaken for ADHD.