Community survey of attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder among primary school pupils in Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood neuro-developmental condition with early onset. ADHD affects children worldwide. However, there is a variation in the prevalence across different countries. In Nigeria, there is paucity of information on the prevalence. To provide the relevant information, a cross-sectional study was conducted between February and August 2006 among 1473 public primary school pupils aged 6-12 years selected systematically among pupils in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. All the 1473 pupils were screened with the Disruptive Behavior Disorder (DBD) Rating Scale to identify children who had ADHD symptoms as contained in the DSM -IV. Such children were compared with randomly selected controls. The academic records of both the groups were also compared. The prevalence of ADHD was 7.6%. The prevalence was higher in boys (9.4%) when compared to girls (5.5%) (P = 0.003). Of the three different subtypes of ADHD, the predominantly inattentive subtype (ADHD-I) was the most prevalent (47.3% of the ADHD population) followed by the combined type (ADHD-C; 31.3%), while the least prevalent was the hyperactive/impulsive subtype (ADHD-HI; 21.4%). There was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of ADHD amongst the different age cohorts. The prevalence of ADHD was relatively high when compared to the figures available for other countries. For this reason, there is a need to pay increased attention to this condition in Nigeria. Community screening under the umbrella of the School Health Program could be of assistance.