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The costs of treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) in US children is similar to the price tag for fighting
childhood asthma -- and far higher than national average healthcare costs
for kid.
The findings indicate that
ADHD and asthma "deserve similar emphasis" as public health
concerns. Researchers used data from a 1996 national survey to estimate
the annual healthcare costs of children and teens with ADHD, those with
asthma and those in the general population with neither condition.
They found that on average,
the cost of healthcare for a
child with ADHD was $479 higher than for kids in the general population.
The findings were
similar for children with asthma, whose healthcare costs were
$437 higher than average.
The bulk of the cost for treating
ADHD was in doctor visits, prescription drugs and out-of-pocket expenses.
The potential economic burden of ADHD is enormous.
Based on the survey's estimate
of the prevalence of childhood ADHD (3.5%), the researchers put the yearly
healthcare cost of the disorder at $1 billion.
Archives
of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine May 2002;156:504-511
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