ADHD Misdiagnosed In Nearly 1 Million U.S. Kids Say Researchers

Two studies published recently suggest there could be something wrong with the way ADHD is diagnosed in young children in the US, one found that nearly 1 million kids are potentially misdiagnosed just because they are the youngest in their kindergarten year, with the youngest in class twice as likely to be on stimulant medication, while the other study confirmed that whether children were born just before or just after the kindergarten cutoff date significantly affected their chances of being diagnosed with ADHD.

Papers on both studies by US researchers are in press, to be published in the Journal of Health Economics, the first being a corrected proof that was first available online in June, and the other appeared online on 4 August.

In the first paper, Dr Todd Elder, assistant professor of economics at Michigan State University, looked at a sample of nearly 12,000 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort, which is funded by the National Center for Education Statistics. He analysed the difference in ADHD diagnosis and medication rates between the youngest and the oldest children in a kindergarten grade.

He found that the youngest children were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD and to be prescribed behavior-modifying stimulants such as Ritalin than their older classmates. He told the press that the "smoking gun" was that the diagnoses depended on the children's age relative to classmates and the teacher's perceptions of whether they had symptoms...

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More research linking pesticide exposure to ADHD in kids

Last week, I was shopping at a Berkeley grocery store with a friend visiting from another country. She wanted to buy blueberries for her two toddlers, and grabbed a big carton on sale for just $2. Inwardly, I winced, and I couldn't help myself -- I blurted out, "Um, blueberries are on the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen list for pesticide residues. The organic section's over here ... "

Over in the organic section, she was appalled. "These are three times as expensive!"

I tried to explain. "The sweeter the fruit, the harder it is to grow organically, to protect it from pests. And the more conventionally grown fruit peel the kids eat, as in small fruits like strawberries and blueberries, well, the more pesticides they're ingesting." (Grist's Tom Laskawy reported on the latest research about exposure levels from fruit.)

My friend decided that her kids ate blueberries just twice a year, and she was OK with the risk from the $2 box.

As my daughter doesn't yet eat food, I haven't had to make those painful calculations. Both of us are fortunate. We have choices about what to feed our kids. What about the parents of kids growing up breathing these same pesticides? They're not so lucky...

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One million children may be misdiagnosed with ADHD: study

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Almost one million children in the United States are potentially misdiagnosed with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) because they were the youngest and least mature in their kindergarten classes, a US study released Tuesday found.

The Michigan State University study found that prescriptions for the misdiagnoses could represent spending of 320 to 500 million dollars a year, with 80 to 90 million of it paid by Medicaid, a public health insurance program for the poor.

The most commonly prescribed drug for ADHD is Ritalin (methylphenidate), a psychostimulant, and its long-term effects are not well known, wrote lead author Todd Elder, of Michigan State University, whose study will appear in the Journal of Health Economics...

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Youngest in class get ADHD label‎ - USA Today

Younger Kids In Class May Be Overdiagnosed With ADHD‎ - NPR

1 Million Kids Misdiagnosed With ADHD‎ - Newsmax Health

Study: A Link Between Pesticides And ADHD

Studies linking environmental substances to disease are coming fast and furious. Chemicals in plastics and common household goods have been associated with serious developmental problems, while a long inventory of other hazards are contributing to rising rates of modern ills: heart disease, obesity, diabetes, autism.

Add attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to the list. A new study in the journal Pediatrics associates exposure to pesticides with cases of ADHD in the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 4.5 million children ages 5 to 17 have been diagnosed with ADHD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and rates of diagnosis have risen 3% a year between 1997 and 2006. Increasingly, research suggests that chemical influences, perhaps in combination with other environmental factors — like video games, hyperkinetically edited TV shows and flashing images in educational DVDs aimed at infants — may be contributing to the increase in attention problems...

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1989564,00.html#ixzz0oDtoDTPs