Children who experience family and environmental stressors, and traumatic experiences, such as poverty, mental illness and exposure to violence, are more likely to be diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), according to new research by investigators at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM), titled "Associations Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and ADHD Diagnosis and Severity," published in Academic Pediatrics.
ADHD is the most common neurobehavioral disorder of childhood. There has been a significant increase in parent-reported ADHD prevalence over the last decade, and there has also been an associated rise in stimulant medication use. Current ADHD clinical practice guidelines recommend evaluating for other conditions that have similar symptoms to ADHD, such as disruptive behaviors, impulsivity, and issues with memory, organization and problem-solving, but few pediatricians routinely ask about psychosocial factors that could be effecting a child's health during ADHD assessment.
Exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), commonly referred to as family or environmental stressors, such as divorce and familial incarceration, is one way that behaviors similar to those exhibited by children with ADHD, can be triggered. Research has shown that this is because ACEs may increase a child's risk for toxic levels of stress, which in turn may impair brain development, behavior, and overall physical and mental health.
"If clinicians aren't routinely discussing exposure to traumatic experiences and identifying ACEs, particularly among children with behavioral concerns such as ADHD, there may be a heightened risk of missing an underlying trauma history or misattributing some of the symptoms of traumatic stress as solely those of ADHD," said lead author Nicole M. Brown, M.D., M.P.H., M.H.S., attending pediatrician, Division of Academic General Pediatrics, CHAM, and assistant professor of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "We sought to examine the link between ADHD and ACEs in an effort to improve ADHD assessment and management."
[For more of this story go to https://www.sciencedaily.com/r.../10/161011130010.htm]
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