One in seven boys now has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the US, a shocking government report has found – while the number of diagnoses is tripling in European countries.
A CDC-led report found that 14.5 percent of American boys have a developmental problem related to poor concentration – up from just under ten percent in 2000.
For boys and girls aged five to seventeen years together, the prevalence was 11.3 percent, or about one in ten.
Nearly twice as many boys had the condition than girls, while boys from a white background and health insurance were also more likely to be diagnosed.
The new US figures differ greatly from those of other countries, including Britain, where it is estimated that around three percent of boys and less than two percent of girls are diagnosed.
The chart above shows ADHD rates in the US compared to other countries
In Germany, the rates among boys are around six percent, according to a 2019 study by the country’s researchers Robert Koch Institute.
And in Britain, around 3.6 percent of boys have the condition – according to a 2023 study.
The rising number of ADHD cases comes amid psychologists’ warnings that its prevalence in the U.S. is far too high — and is causing many children to unnecessarily take medications to treat the condition.
The market value for ADHD drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin has more than tripled to $12.5 billion in the 12 years to 2022. Estimates suggest this could reach almost $15 billion by 2030.
The late Dr. Keith Connors was a former Harvard University psychologist who published the first standards for diagnosing ADHD in the 1990s.
“The numbers make it look like an epidemic,” he said in 2013, five years before his death. “Well, it isn’t. It is ridiculous.
“This is a fabrication to justify the provision of medicines at unprecedented and unjustifiable levels.”
ADHD is defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects an individual’s ability to concentrate, control impulses, and regulate energy levels.
It is typically diagnosed in childhood, around age six or seven, but in many cases it persists into the teenage years and adulthood.
The graph above, from the CDC’s 2009 report, shows the gradual increase in ADHD diagnoses among children. For boys this is now 14.5 percent
The above, from the CDC’s most recent report, shows the percentage of children ever diagnosed, broken down by age group and gender
Treatments include stimulant medications, including Adderall and Ritalin, which work by changing the levels of chemicals in the brain to improve concentration and focus.
But the drugs also have unpleasant side effects, including insomnia, increased irritability and anxiety. In severe cases they can cause seizures, hallucinations and psychosis.
The CDC-led report – their first update to these numbers since 2009 – highlighted how rates of ADHD among children have risen sharply in the US in recent decades.
In the 1990s, an estimated 600,000 children were diagnosed with ADHD, putting diagnosis rates in line with those in other countries.
But by 2009, the prevalence among young boys had risen from six to eight percent and even increased to twelve percent.
The latest report, based on data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), shows how diagnosis rates in the US have continued to rise far above levels in other countries.
The NHIS interviews a nationally representative sample of 8,400 children in person and by telephone each year about their health, including whether they have been diagnosed with ADHD and whether they are receiving treatment for the condition.
Dr. Scott Lyons, a psychologist in New York, told DailyMail.com: ‘The prevalence figures clearly indicated that there is a financial element to it.
‘The diagnostic criteria have not changed.
“And we can’t just say that people are more open to diagnosing the condition because the criteria have remained the same.”
The report also found that rates of the condition were higher among white children (13.4 percent) compared to black (10.8 percent) and Hispanic (8.9 percent) backgrounds.
They were also higher among children with health insurance (up to 14.4 percent) compared to children without insurance (6.3 percent).
Researchers have previously suggested that marketing campaigns by pharmaceutical companies have expanded the definition of ADHD to include relatively normal childhood behaviors such as carelessness and impatience.
The FDA has accused every major ADHD drug of false and misleading advertising since 2000, sometimes multiple times.
Drugs used to treat ADHD are now the most common medications prescribed to children.
Several studies and experts have warned that many children are wrongly diagnosed with ADHD.
When children start school, some may be just five years old, while others are almost six – which experts say makes for a 20 percent difference in natural development.
Dr. Todd Elder, a health economist at Michigan State University, previously said: “If a child is behaving badly, if he is inattentive, if he cannot sit still, it may simply be because he is five and the other children are six.
‘There is a big difference between a five-year-old and a six-year-old, and teachers and doctors need to take that into account when assessing whether children have ADHD.’