Under-diagnosed and under-treated , girls with ADHD face distinct risks
By Rodrigo Pérez Ortega
It took a long time to figure out how attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder presents in girls and women and the problems it can create . A pioneering study helped change that , but the condition is still often missed .
Anxiety . Depression . School failure . Selfharm . Unemployment . Unplanned pregnancies . Even an increased risk of early death .
The risks and toll of suffering that can come with having attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder , or ADHD , is huge , counted annually in billions of dollars in lost productivity and health care spending and in untold frustration and failure .
Yet despite more than a century of research and thousands of published studies , ADHD — marked by distraction , forgetfulness and impulsivity — remains largely misunderstood by the public . This is especially true when it comes to girls and women .
Over the past few decades , pediatricians , teachers and parents have gotten a lot better at spotting ADHD in girls . In the 1990s , scientists believed it was as much as nine times as common in boys , and very few girls were diagnosed . Today ’ s diagnosis rate has narrowed to 2.5 boys to every girl .
The diagnosis of ADHD in the United States has surged in recent years , though current numbers are probably higher than its true prevalence . Estimates suggest that worldwide , 5 to 7 percent of youth have ADHD . The higher rates of diagnosis in the United States are probably due to several factors , including shifts in educational policies that emphasize student test scores and changes in medical benefits coverage .
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