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Susanna N. Visser, MS and Catherine A. Lesesne, MA. National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road MS-E88, Atlanta, GA 30333, 404-498-3002, clesesne@cdc.gov
The purposes of this symposium are to discuss problems of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) case ascertainment and diagnosis, including assessing impairment in children, and to present novel secondary/tertiary prevention efforts designed to reduce ADHD-associated impairment. This session will present these issues and set the stage for three evidence-based presentations related to the issues delineated by this introductory session.
ADHD is the most prevalent neurobehavioral disorder of childhood and issues of impairment and treatment can significantly and directly affect educational and health outcomes of children with ADHD. For this reason, investigations related to the epidemiology and secondary/tertiary prevention of ADHD and associated impairment are critical to the field of public health, as this potentially increasing population of more than 3.5 million school-aged children continues to burden and strain social service, educational, and health care agencies. Compared with clinical research disciplines, the epidemiologic research community has not adequately addressed the need for research regarding the epidemiology and prevention of ADHD-related morbidity at the population level, perhaps due to a wealth of definitional and assessment issues related to ADHD (Rowland, Lesesne, & Abramowitz, 2002).
Research related to the pervasiveness of ADHD-related impairment and secondary/tertiary prevention efforts is only now being initiated and, therefore, constitutes content that lends itself to an interdisciplinary discussion involving psychology, education, health care, and public health communities. This symposium will bring together responses from clinical and epidemiologic fields regarding issues of case ascertainment, assessing the impact of ADHD in childhood, and investigating opportunities for secondary/tertiary prevention in school-based settings.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Mental Health, Methodology
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.