Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 May-Jun;53(3):343-360.
doi: 10.1080/15374416.2024.2335625. Epub 2024 May 22.

ADHD Prevalence Among U.S. Children and Adolescents in 2022: Diagnosis, Severity, Co-Occurring Disorders, and Treatment

Melissa L Danielson  1 , Angelika H Claussen  1 , Rebecca H Bitsko  1 , Samuel M Katz  1   2 , Kimberly Newsome  1 , Stephen J Blumberg  3 , Michael D Kogan  4 , Reem Ghandour  4
Affiliations

ADHD Prevalence Among U.S. Children and Adolescents in 2022: Diagnosis, Severity, Co-Occurring Disorders, and Treatment

Melissa L Danielson et al. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2024 May-Jun.

Abstract

Objective: To provide updated national prevalence estimates of diagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), ADHD severity, co-occurring disorders, and receipt of ADHD medication and behavioral treatment among U.S. children and adolescents by demographic and clinical subgroups using data from the 2022 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH).

Method: This study used 2022 NSCH data to estimate the prevalence of ever diagnosed and current ADHD among U.S. children aged 3-17 years. Among children with current ADHD, ADHD severity, presence of current co-occurring disorders, and receipt of medication and behavioral treatment were estimated. Weighted estimates were calculated overall and for demographic and clinical subgroups (n = 45,169).

Results: Approximately 1 in 9 U.S. children have ever received an ADHD diagnosis (11.4%, 7.1 million children) and 10.5% (6.5 million) had current ADHD. Among children with current ADHD, 58.1% had moderate or severe ADHD, 77.9% had at least one co-occurring disorder, approximately half of children with current ADHD (53.6%) received ADHD medication, and 44.4% had received behavioral treatment for ADHD in the past year; nearly one third (30.1%) did not receive any ADHD-specific treatment.

Conclusions: Pediatric ADHD remains an ongoing and expanding public health concern, as approximately 1 million more children had ever received an ADHD diagnosis in 2022 than in 2016. Estimates from the 2022 NSCH provide information on pediatric ADHD during the last full year of the COVID-19 pandemic and can be used by policymakers, government agencies, health care systems, public health practitioners, and other partners to plan for needs of children with ADHD.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure:
Figure:
Weighted prevalence and 95% confidence intervals of parent-reported ADHD among children and adolescents by sex and age, National Survey of Children’s Health, 2022 ADHD: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. AAP-AACAP-CHA. (2021). Declaration of a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Children’s Hospital Association https://www.aap.org/en/advocacy/child-and-adolescent-healthy-mental-deve...
    1. Abdelnour E, Jansen MO, & Gold JA (2022). ADHD diagnostic trends: Increased recognition or overdiagnosis? Missouri Medicine, 119(5), 467–473. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9616454/ - PMC - PubMed
    1. Akinbami LJ, Liu X, Pastor PN, & Reuben CA (2011). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among children aged 5–17 years in the United States, 1998–2009. NCHS Data Brief, 70. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db70.htm - PubMed
    1. Ali MM, West KD, Bagalman E, & Sherry TB (2023). Telepsychiatry use before and during the COVID-19 pandemic among children enrolled in Medicaid. Psychiatric Services, 74(6), 644–647. 10.1176/appi.ps.20220378 - DOI - PubMed
    1. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition. American Psychiatric Association.

LinkOut - more resources