The Epidemiology of Various Behavioral Disorders in Children and Adolescents of the World: A Comprehensive Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: The behavioral disorders in children and adolescents include a group of behaviors by which the children and adolescents suffering from them repeatedly violate the basic rights of others or violate social norms. Due to the importance of these disorders and the lack of comprehensive statistics about it throughout the world, the present study aimed to determine the uniformity of statistics of various behavioral disorders in children and adolescents in the world through a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis study, the collected data of the studies were systematically extracted based on the prevalence of behavioral disorders in children and adolescents throughout the world according to the PRISMA guidelines from Persian databases of SID, MagIran, IranMedex, and IranDoc and international databases of ProQuest, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Medline (PubMed), Web of Science (WoS) and Google Scholar search engine through using the keywords of Behavioral Disorders, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Aggression, Nail-biting, Thumb sucking, Mood Disorder, Tics, Children and Prevalence, and their equivalents from MeSH browser without any time limit until 2020. To analyze the eligible studies, the random-effects model was used, and the heterogeneity of the studies was investigated with the I2 index. The data were analyzed using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software (Version 2). Results: Out of 9869 studies, 257 studies met the inclusion criteria. In a review of 67 studies with a sample size of 191355, the prevalence of total behavioral disorders in children and adolescents worldwide was 17.8% (95% CI: 14.4-2.8%), which regarding the subgroup analysis by different continents, the highest prevalence of total behavioral disorders was obtained from Asia 21.3% (95% CI: 17.25-3.9%). Also, regarding the subgroup analysis based on the types of behavioral disorders, the highest prevalence of behavioral disorders in children and adolescents in the world was related to the Thumb sucking index 21.2% (95% CI: 11.1-1.36.7%). The highest prevalence of Thumb sucking was 37.2% (95% CI: 11.6-72-8.8%) in America. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that the prevalence of various behavioral disorders, especially Thumb sucking and Aggression, is high in children and adolescents worldwide. Therefore, it shows the importance of accurate diagnosis with extensive screening programs and appropriate planning for prevention. Funding Statement: Student Research Committee of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Deputy for Research and Technology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (IR) (3010805). Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: Ethics approval was received from the ethics committee of deputy of research and technology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (3010805).