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. 2023 Oct 12;13(1):17254.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-44472-1.

Prevalence and trends of developmental disabilities among US children and adolescents aged 3 to 17 years, 2018-2021

Qian Li #  1 , Yanmei Li #  1 , Juan Zheng #  2 , Xiaofang Yan  1 , Jitian Huang  1 , Yingxia Xu  1 , Xia Zeng  1 , Tianran Shen  3 , Xiaohui Xing  1 , Qingsong Chen  4 , Wenhan Yang  5
Affiliations

Prevalence and trends of developmental disabilities among US children and adolescents aged 3 to 17 years, 2018-2021

Qian Li et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Developmental disabilities prevalence seem to be high in countries around the world. It's worth understanding the most recent prevalence and trends of developmental disabilities. The objective of this study is to examine the prevalence and trends of developmental disabilities of US children and adolescents. A total of 26,422 individuals aged 3-17 years were included. Annual data were examined from the National Health Interview Survey (2018-2021). Weighted prevalence for each of the selected developmental disabilities were calculated. The prevalence of any developmental disabilities in individuals was 16.65% (95% CI 16.03-17.26%), prevalence of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disability (LD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability (ID), and other developmental delay were 9.57% (95% CI 9.09-10.06%), 7.45% (95% CI 7.00-7.89%), 2.94% (95% CI 2.67-3.21%), 1.72% (95% CI 1.51-1.93%), and 5.24% (95% CI 4.89-5.59%), respectively. Significant increases were observed for other developmental delay (4.02-6.05%) and co-occurring LD & ID (1.03-1.82%). Findings form this study highlight a high prevalence of any developmental disabilities, although no significant increase was observed. The prevalence of other developmental delay and co-occurring LD & ID were significantly increased. Further investigation is warranted to assess potentially modifiable risk factors and causes of developmental disabilities.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Trends in the Prevalence of Developmental Disabilities in US Children and Adolescents aged 3–17 years, 2018–2021. ADHD attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; LD learning disability; ASD autism spectrum disorder; ID intellectual disability.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of children and adolescents aged 3–17 years with two of selected developmental disabilities, by year: US, 2018–2021. ADHD & LD: co-occurring ADHD & LD; LD & ASD: co-occurring LD & ASD; LD & ID: co-occurring LD & ID; ADHD & ASD: co-occurring ADHD & ASD; ASD & ID: co-occurring ASD & ID; ADHD & ID: co-occurring ADHD & ID.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of children and adolescents aged 3–17 years with three or more of selected developmental disabilities, by year: US, 2018–2021. The vertical label refers from left to right: co-occurring ADHD & LD & ASD, co-occurring LD & ASD & ID, co-occurring ADHD & LD & ID, co-occurring ADHD & ASD & ID, and co-occurring ADHD & LD & ASD & ID.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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