Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume 49, Issue 3 , Pages 217-228.e3 , March 2010

Sex and Age Differences in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms and Diagnoses: Implications for DSM-V and ICD-11

,Accepted 16 November 2009.

References 

  1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2000;
  2. Costello EJ, Farmer EM, Angold A, Burns BJ, Erkanli A. Psychiatric disorders among American Indian and white youth in Appalachia: the Great Smoky Mountains Study. Am J Public Health. 1997;87:827–832
  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mental health in the United States: Prevalence of diagnosis and medication treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder—United States, 2003. CDC MMWR. 2005;34:842–847
  4. Brown RT, Freeman WS, Perrin JM, et al. Prevalence and assessment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in primary care settings. Pediatrics. 2001;107:E43
  5. Elia J, Ambrosini PJ, Rapoport JL. Treatment of attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder. N Engl J Med. 1999;340:780–788
  6. Goldman LS, Genel M, Bezman RJ, Slanetz PJ. Diagnosis and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents (Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association). J Am Med Assoc. 1998;279:1100–1107
  7. Cuffe SP, Moore CG, McKeown RE. Prevalence and correlates of ADHD symptoms in the national health interview survey. J Atten Disord. 2005;9:392–401
  8. Graetz BW, Sawyer MG, Baghurst P. Gender differences among children with DSM-IV ADHD in Australia. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2005;44:159–168
  9. Rowland AS, Lesesne CA, Abramowitz AJ. The epidemiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): a public health view. Ment Retard Dev Disabil Res Rev. 2002;8:162–170
  10. Resnick RJ. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in teens and adults: they don't all outgrow it. J Clin Psychol. 2005;61:529–533
  11. Kessler RC, Adler L, Barkley R, et al. The prevalence and correlates of adult ADHD in the United States: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Am J Psychiatry. 2006;163:716–723
  12. Faraone SV, Biederman J, Mick E. The age-dependent decline of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analysis of follow-up studies. Psychol Med. 2006;36:159–165
  13. Barkley RA. Advancing age, declining ADHD. Am J Psychiatry. 1997;154:1323–1325
  14. Faraone SV, Biederman J, Spencer T, et al. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults: an overview. Biol Psychiatry. 2000;48:9–20
  15. Todd RD, Huang H, Todorov AA, et al. Predictors of stability of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder subtypes from childhood to young adulthood. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2008;47:76–85
  16. Cantwell DP. Attention deficit disorder: a review of the past 10 years. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1996;35:978–987
  17. Lahey BB, Applegate B, McBurnett K, et al. DSM-IV field trials for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents. Am J Psychiatry. 1994;151:1673–1685
  18. Wolraich ML, Hannah JN, Pinnock TY, Baumgaertel A, Brown J. Comparison of diagnostic criteria for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in a county-wide sample. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1996;35:319–324
  19. Carlson CL, Tamm L, Gaub M. Gender differences in children with ADHD, ODD, and co-occurring ADHD/ODD identified in a school population. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1997;36:1706–1714
  20. Gaub M, Carlson CL. Gender differences in ADHD: a meta-analysis and critical review. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1997;36:1036–1045
  21. Gershon J. A meta-analytic review of gender differences in ADHD. J Atten Disord. 2002;5:143–154
  22. Biederman J, Kwon A, Aleardi M, et al. Absence of gender effects on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: findings in nonreferred subjects. Am J Psychiatry. 2005;162:1083–1089
  23. Todd RD, Joyner CA, Heath AC, Neuman RJ, Reich W. Reliability and stability of a semistructured DSM-IV interview designed for family studies. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2003;42:1460–1468
  24. Swanson JM, Shuck S, Mann M, et al. Categorical and Dimensional Definitions and Evaluations of Symptoms of ADHD: the SNAP and the SWAN rating scales. www.adhd.netAccessed September 25, 2009
  25. Hay DA, Bennett KS, Levy F, Sergeant J, Swanson J. A twin study of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder dimensions rated by the strengths and weaknesses of ADHD-symptoms and normal-behavior (SWAN) scale. Biol Psychiatry. 2007;61:700–705
  26. Polderman TJ, Derks EM, Hudziak JJ, Verhulst FC, Posthuma D, Boomsma DI. Across the continuum of attention skills: a twin study of the SWAN ADHD rating scale. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2007;48:1080–1087
  27. Young DJ, Levy F, Martin NC, Hay DA. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a Rasch analysis of the SWAN rating scale. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2009;40:543–559
  28. Royston P, Altman DG. Regression using fractional polynomials of continuous covariates: parsimonius parametric modelling. Applied Statistics. 1994;3:429–467
  29. Froehlich TE, Lanphear BP, Epstein JN, Barbaresi WJ, Katusic SK, Kahn RS. Prevalence, recognition, and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in a national sample of US children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161:857–864
  30. Derks EM, Dolan CV, Hudziak JJ, Neale MC, Boomsma DI. Assessment and etiology of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder in boys and girls. Behav Genet. 2007;37:559–566
  31. Rhee SH, Waldman ID. Etiology of sex differences in the prevalence of ADHD: an examination of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2004;127:60–64
  32. Lahey BB, Pelham WE, Loney J, Lee SS, Willcutt E. Instability of the DSM-IV subtypes of ADHD from preschool through elementary school. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005;62:896–902
  33. Molina BS, Hinshaw SP, Swanson JM, et al. The MTA at 8 years: prospective follow-up of children treated for combined-type ADHD in a multisite study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2009;48:484–500
  34. Todd RD, Huang H, Henderson CA. Poor utility of the age of onset criterion for DSM-IV attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: recommendations for DSM-V and ICD-11. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2008;49:942–949
  35. Rohde LA, Biederman J, Zimmermann H, Schmitz M, Martins S, Tramontina S. Exploring ADHD age-of-onset criterion in Brazilian adolescents. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2000;9:212–218
  36. Faraone SV, Biederman J, Milberger S. How reliable are maternal reports of their children's psychopathology? (One-year recall of psychiatric diagnoses of ADHD children). J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1995;34:1001–1008
  37. Angold A, Costello EJ. Puberty and depression. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2006;15:919–937ix

 This article is discussed in an editorial by Dr. Russell A. Barkley on page 205.

 Supplemental material cited in this article is available online.

 This article was reviewed under and accepted by Ad Hoc Editor F. Xavier Castellanos, M.D.

 This work was supported by award numbers R01-MH-067921 (PI-RDT), R01-MH-083823 (PI-AAT), and K08-MH-080287 (PI-AMR) from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIMH or the National Institutes of Health.

 An earlier version of this manuscript fulfilled the thesis requirement for Dr. Ramtekkar's Master of Psychiatric Epidemiology degree.

 This paper is dedicated to the senior author, Dr. Richard Todd, who died from complications of leukemia on August 22, 2008. Dr. Todd was principal investigator on the study described here. He was heavily involved in supervising the data analysis and writing of this paper, even until a few days before his death. Dr. Todd was a brilliant scientist, an excellent mentor, and a highly valued colleague.

 Disclosure: Drs. Ramtekkar, Reiersen, Todorov, and Todd report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

PII: S0890-8567(09)00052-5

doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2009.11.011

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume 49, Issue 3 , Pages 217-228.e3 , March 2010