Evidence-based Medicine: Time for a change? - Journal of Medical ...

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Table 3. Student found positive for ADHD in both the
settings
Class No. of No. of boys No. of girls No. of student
student found found positive of
screened positive positive ADHD in
two settings
I 28 1 2 3
II 55 6 3 9
III 53 1 0 1
IV 47 0 0 0
V 47 0 0 0
VI 43 0 0 0
VII 39 0 0 0
TOTAL 312 8 (2.9%) 5 (1.8%) 13 (4.17%)
Out of the 312 students belonging to classes
from I to VII who were recruited and screened
for the study (as shown in table-1). The data
collected from teachers shown that out of 312
students screened, 17 students were
screened positive of ADHD with a percentage
of 5.45%. Out of which 10 were boys and 7
were girls with a percentage of 3.23% and
2.22% respectively.. From the data collected
by parents it was found that out of the 17
positive students, 13 of them were again
screened positive – 8 boys and 5 girls,
whereas 3 of them were found negative and
1 of the student could not be traced as he had
already dropped out of the school. Special
focus was given on the above mentioned 17
positive students (shown in table – 2,3).
Putting the above two data together, it was
found that out of the total of 312 students
screened, 13 students were diagnosed
positive of ADHD. So, it stands that 4.17 % of
the students were affected by ADHD.
Discussion: Besides providing information
that can be compared with the child’s behavior
at home, school setting can be used as an
alternative setting for carrying out interventions
and allows sampling of a broader spectrum
and area of behavior. 12 Moreover, externalizing
problems get reported more often by teachers
and internalizing problems more often by the
parents. 13 Keeping these views in mind, school
was chosen as a platform to obtain samples
for study. This has been done in several other
studies. 14, 15. The sample consisting of 312
children that were screened comprised of an
almost equal proportion of girls and boys. This
ensured proportional representation of both
sexes. In the present study, information from
child, teacher and parents was used and the
interviewer’s best judgment was applied to
arrive at a final conclusion.
The prevalence of ADHD in the current study
was found to be 4.17 %. Though, the finding
was agreed with several other studies. Studies
by Kashani et al., 16 Cohen et al. 17 and
Deivasigamani 14 have found higher rates while
that by Esser et al 18 revealed lower rate of
prevalence. This difference could be attributed
to variations in age group, informants,
diagnostic system, diagnostic tools and
sampling techniques. The higher rate of ADHD
among boys than girls were similar to findings
of Rutter et al., 19 and Offord et al 20 .
Conclusion: ADHD is not uncommon in
school going children in Manipur. It is a barrier
in the effective management of children at
school and home. And yet many of the parents
and teachers are not aware of the same.
Present study could bring up awareness
among the teachers and parents.
Limitations: The present study had certain
limitations. Inherent disadvantages of
sampling in schools remained. Subjects with
severe ADHD, being probable school
dropouts, were automati­cally left out. Certain
socio-demographic and clinical variables
such as peer adjustment, environment in
neighborhood, parenting style and intelligence,
which were not probed, kept room for future
improvement.
References
1. American Psychiatric Association.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders. 4th ed. Washington, DC:
American Psychiatric Association; 1994
2. National Institute of Mental Health.
“Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.”
Department of Health and Human
Services. National Institutes of Health.
2006.
48 JMS * JMS Vol 25 * Vol * No. 25 3 * No. * September, 1 * June, 2010 2011