Epidemiology of child psychiatric disorders
 | This article needs to be updated. (November 2021) |
The epidemiology of child psychiatric disorders is the study of the incidence, prevalence, and distribution of conditions in child and adolescent psychiatry. Subfields of pediatric psychiatric epidemiology include developmental epidemiology, which focuses on the genetic and environmental causes of child psychiatric disorders. The field of pediatric psychiatric epidemiology finds widely varying rates of childhood psychiatric disorders, depending on study population, diagnostic method, and cultural setting.
Prevalence of mental illness
[edit]A 2016 study conducted in the United States found that 17.4% of children between the ages of 2 and 8 have a mental, behavioral, or mental health disorder.[1] Epidemiological research conducted in 2005 has shown that between 3% and 18% of children have a psychiatric disorder causing significant functional impairment (reasons for these widely divergent prevalence rates are discussed below) and a median prevalence estimate of 12% has been proposed.[2] Using a different statistical method, a proposed prevalence rate for all mental disorders in children was 14.2%.[3]
England
[edit]Between 2005 and 2017, the number of adolescents (12 to 17 years) who were prescribed antidepressants has doubled. On the other hand, antidepressant prescriptions for children aged 5-11 decreased between 1999 and 2017.[4][5]
From April 2015, prescription increased for both age groups (for people aged 0 to 17) and peaked during the first COVID lockdown in March 2020.[6]
Between 1998 and 2017, children and adolescents living in deprived areas were more often prescribed antidepressants while Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) teenagers were less likely to receive prescriptions than their White peers.[4][5]
Developmental epidemiology
[edit]Developmental epidemiology seeks to "disentangle how the trajectories of symptoms, environment, and individual development intertwine to produce psychopathology".[7]
Socio-economic influences
[edit]Mental illness in childhood and adolescence is associated with parental unemployment, low family income, being on family income assistance,[8] lower parental educational level, and single-parent, blended or stepparent families.[9]
Methodological issues
[edit]Epidemiological research has produced widely divergent estimates, depending on the nature of the diagnostic method (e.g. structured clinical interview, unstructured clinical interview, self-report or parent-report questionnaire), but more recent studies using DSM-IV-based structured interviews produce more reliable estimates of clinical "caseness". Past research has also been limited by inconsistent definitions of clinical disorders, and differing upper and lower age limits of the study population. Changing definitions over time have given rise to spurious evidence of changing prevalence of disorders. Furthermore, almost all epidemiological surveys have been carried out in Europe, North America and Australia, and the cross-cultural validity of DSM criteria have been questioned, so it is not clear to what extent the published data can be generalized to developing countries.[2][8]
See also
[edit]General:
- Prevalence of mental disorders
- Mental disorders diagnosed in childhood
- Child and adolescent psychiatry
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Cree, Robyn A. (2018). "Health Care, Family, and Community Factors Associated with Mental, Behavioral, and Developmental Disorders and Poverty Among Children Aged 2–8 Years — United States, 2016". MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 67 (50): 1377–1383. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6750a1. ISSN 0149-2195. PMC 6342550. PMID 30571671.
- ^ a b Costello, Jane; Egger, Helen; Angold, Adrian (2005). "10-Year Research Update Review: The Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Disorders: I. Methods and Public Health Burden". Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 44 (10): 972–986. doi:10.1097/01.chi.0000172552.41596.6f. PMID 16175102.
- ^ Waddell, Charlotte; Offord, David; Shepherd, Cody; Hua, Josephine; McEwan, Kimberley (2002). "Child Psychiatric Epidemiology and Canadian Public Policy-Making: The State of the Science and the Art of the Possible". Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 47 (9): 825–832. doi:10.1177/070674370204700903. PMID 12500752.
- ^ a b "Teenagers' use of antidepressants is rising with variations across regions and ethnic groups". NIHR Evidence (Plain English summary). National Institute for Health and Care Research. 2020-11-18. doi:10.3310/alert_42239. S2CID 240759939.
- ^ a b Jack, Ruth H.; Hollis, Chris; Coupland, Carol; Morriss, Richard; Knaggs, Roger David; Butler, Debbie; Cipriani, Andrea; Cortese, Samuele; Hippisley-Cox, Julia (2020-07-22). Hellner, Clara (ed.). "Incidence and prevalence of primary care antidepressant prescribing in children and young people in England, 1998–2017: A population-based cohort study". PLOS Medicine. 17 (7): e1003215. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003215. ISSN 1549-1676. PMC 7375537. PMID 32697803.
- ^ Robinson, Julia (23 June 2021). "Peaks in number of young people prescribed antidepressants coincide with lockdowns". The Pharmaceutical Journal. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
- ^ Costello, Jane; Foley, Deborah; Angold, Adrian (2006). "10-year research update: The epidemiology of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders: II. Developmental epidemiology". Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 45 (1): 8–25. doi:10.1097/01.chi.0000184929.41423.c0. PMID 16327577.
- ^ a b Belfer, Myron (2008). "Child and adolescent mental disorders: the magnitude of the problem across the globe". Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 49 (3): 226–236. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.453.4985. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01855.x. PMID 18221350.
- ^ Sawyer, M.G.; Arney, F.M.; Baghurst, P.A.; Clark, J.J.; Graetz, B.W.; Kosky, R.J.; Nurcombe, B.; Patton, G.C.; Prior, M.R.; Raphael, B.; Rey, J.M.; Whaites, L.C.; Zubrick, S.R. (2001). "The mental health of young people in Australia: key findings from the child and adolescent component of the national survey of mental health and well-being". Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 35 (6): 806–814. doi:10.1046/j.1440-1614.2001.00964.x. PMID 11990891. S2CID 38984587.