© 2005 BMJ Publishing Group & Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
EDITORIAL
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Introduction
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, Department of Psychological Medicine, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, Great Ormond Street, London WC1N 3JH, UK; prof@17wimpole.com
Professor Peter Hill, Honorary Consultant in Psychological Medicine at Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital, introduces this supplement on attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a pattern of pervasive behavioural and cognitive symptoms, characterised by excessive and impairing hyperactive, inattentive, and impulsive behaviour. It is one of the most frequent childhood behavioural disorders, with symptoms often persisting across adolescence into adulthood.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Diseases - Fourth Revision (DSM-IV)1 allows for the differentiation of ADHD into three subtypes: (1) predominantly inattentive, (2) hyperactive/impulsive, and (3) combined.2 The International Classification of Diseases10th Revision, (ICD-10)3 is a much narrower diagnosis whereby only a subset of the DSM-IV ADHD group is identified, equivalent to a severe combined type.
Existing epidemiological data suggest that 1% of school age children in the UK are affected by the severe combined form and around 5% to some lesser degree, though still within the diagnostic boundary.4 This equates to around 69 000 616 year olds in England being severely affected and 345
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