Systematic review of the epidemiology of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Arab countries

Abstract

Objective:To assess the epidemiology of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Arab countries, and identify gaps for future research.Methods:We searched PubMed from July 1978 to July 2014 and reviewed local journals with cross-referencing. The keywords we used were ADHD, diagnosis, prevalence, incidence, factor, diagnosis, rate, risk, and each of the names of the 22 Arab countries (Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and so on). Studies were eligible for inclusion if they investigated the epidemiology of ADHD in any Arab country, and were published in English. The search was conducted from 2nd to 5th August 2014 in King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Results:A total of 22 articles were included in the review. Twenty studies were cross-sectional and found the prevalence of ADHD ranged between 1.3-16%, prevalence of hyperactive type ADHD between 1.4-7.8%, and the prevalence of inattention type between 2.1-2.7%. Only 2 case-control studies investigated potential risk factors. Evidence extracted from these studies shows a significant association between ADHD and male gender, previous psychiatric illness in the family, vitamin D deficiency, poor school performance, sleep problems, and nocturnal enuresis.Conclusion:The prevalence of ADHD in Arab countries is comparable to reports in North America, Africa, and other countries of the Middle East. Longitudinal studies are needed to investigate the prognosis and determinants of this condition in the Arab world.

Prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among school-aged children in Jordan

“…These results are in line with the findings of studies conducted in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar (8,12,13,17,18), and could be explained by the fact that children in large families receives less care, which results in behavioural problems being observed more often among these children.…”

“…Our results are comparable to those of other studies conducted in Arab countries, which have shown that ADHD is more noticeable among children aged 6-9 years and the symptoms start to regress after 11 years (8,12,13,17).…”

“…Factors that contribute to the aetiology of ADHD are still under investigation (1,8). Various approaches have been used to try to explain the aetiology, including biological, neuro-psychobiological, trauma-based, and environmentally based models, or a combination of these.…”

“…In Arab countries there has been a shortage of studies addressing children's behavioural problems in general and ADHD in particular (8). The prevalence of ADHD symptoms in Arab countries varies considerably between 1.3 and 16% (8,(12)(13)(14), although these rates were based on a limited number of studies that used different methods.…”

“…The prevalence of ADHD symptoms in Arab countries varies considerably between 1.3 and 16% (8,(12)(13)(14), although these rates were based on a limited number of studies that used different methods. For example, Richa and colleagues (14) conducted a study of 1000 Lebanese school children aged 6-10 years using the ADHD Rating Scale -IV School Version.…”