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The study examined 407,846 American children born between 2007 and 2009 to determine the number of ADHD diagnoses related to the child's birth month.
"We did not see anything for any couples other than the months of August through September, where we saw this big difference," said Layton, badistant professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. . "We saw that it was only in states that had a deadline of September 1. There was nothing in states that did not have it."
Layton and his coauthors found that the rate of children with ADHD with a birthday in August was 34% higher than that of children born in September. Among children born in August, 85.1 out of 10,000 children were diagnosed with ADHD, compared to only 63.6 out of 10,000 born in September.
Children born in August also had a 32% higher rate of treatment for illness than those born in September.
Some symptoms are normal behavior in children, but those with ADHD may not overcome them. The symptoms can be severe and cause difficulties at school, at home or with friends, said the CDC.
Younger children in their peer group, such as those whose birthday is the month of August in a school whose deadline is September 1st. , may be more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, Layton said, that some childhood behaviors may be consistent with those used for diagnosis.
"Basically, ADHD is diagnosed as normal behavior in the child, and is treated for him, even if it is only a normal child. is that they are younger than their peers and behave a little differently, "he said.
But this could be a weakness, he said, in that "we do not know how clinicians make the diagnosis, how well they follow the protocols." this could leave room for an "age-related diagnostic bias".
Although it is unlikely that the results will change significantly, Nigg and other researchers also noted that the study's authors had not determined whether the children were actually enrolled in the school.
Despite these limitations, Nigg believes this study is valuable when looking at diagnoses of ADHD.
"It is really useful to continue to look at what sociological factors of diagnosis can be called, it really helps to solve real cases, where the child actually has a problem to treat, rather circumstantial cases that may be a normal development that looks bad because of the situation in which the child is, "he said.
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