The Prevalence of Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder Among Iranian Children: A Meta-Analysis

Context: Attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), diagnosed in psychiatric outpatient clinics, is the most common psychiatric disorder among schoolchildren. The purpose of this study is to conduct a meta-analysis on subscales related to ADHD examined on schoolchildren. Moreover, it is tried to evaluate meta-analysis of ADHD and its subscales in primary school students in Iran. Evidence Acquisition: Searching through the databases of Magiran, SID, Google Scholar, etc. a total of 16 articles were collected and weighted based on the number of cases and prevalence in binomial distribution. By using a random effects model meta-analysis (I2 = 96.5%), data were analyzed by the use of R and STATA software (version 11.2). In this analysis, 27 articles published between the years of 2001 and 2016 were used. The total sample size was 15124 students whose ages ranged from six to 14 years old. The prevalence of ADHD based on parents and teachers’ consensus was 12% (CI 95%: 9.0 - 15), from parents’ perspective 15.6% (CI 95%: 9.8 - 21.5), and from teachers’ perspective 17.2% (CI 95%: 12.7 - 21.8). The subgroups’ prevalence rates based on parents and teachers’ consensus were as follows: Attention deficit (AD) = 4.2%, hyperactive impulsive (HI) = 4.1%, and combined type (CT) = 3.5%. ADHD was more prevalent in boys than girls (7.9% versus 5.5%). The results indicated that the prevalence of ADHD among schoolchildren is moderate; therefore, considering the importance of students’ mental health, the needs for identification, prevention, and treatment of high-risk groups by responsible institutions become obvious.