Troubling News For The Young

Nearly half of kids with mental disorders go without treatment, study finds

From The LA Times by Karen Kaplan, December 13, 2009

If your child broke an arm or had a nasty bout of pneumonia, you'd probably visit the doctor. But a new study from researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health finds that only 55% of kids with a mental disorder sought professional treatment.

What's more, that figure represents an increase in use of mental health services, according to a report being published online Monday by the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers wanted to establish a baseline on the prevalence of six mental health disorders affecting children and adolescents between the ages of 8 and 15. Using data from 3,042 kids who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, they found:

• 8.6% had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
• 3.7% were depressed
• 2.1% had conduct disorder
• 0.7% suffered from generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder
• 0.1% were anorexic or bulimic
• 13% of kids surveyed had at least one of these disorders, and 1.8% had two or more.

The researchers, led by Kathleen Merikangas of NIMH, found that mental disorders – especially ADHD – were more prevalent among kids with lower socioeconomic status. One exception was the category of anxiety disorders, which were more common among children of higher socioeconomic status.

Still, only 32% of those kids visited a doctor for the condition. Overall, African American and Mexican American children were less likely than whites to get treatment.

Source: LA Times

Link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/12/mental-health-disorders-children-adolescents.html