Sex Differences in the Age at First Health Service Use for ADHD Among Australian Children.

IF 3.2 3区医学 Q2 PSYCHIATRY

Journal of Attention Disorders Pub Date : 2026-08-01 DOI:10.1177/10870547261474901

Melissa Mei Yin Cheung, Tasmia Hai, Oliver J Watkeys, Kristin R Laurens, Vaughan J Carr, Melissa J Green

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective: There is evidence to suggest that girls with ADHD are less likely to be diagnosed with and receive treatment for ADHD in childhood compared to boys. However, it is unclear whether there are sex differences in first use health services for ADHD. This study compared the age at which girls and boys first accessed health services for ADHD.

Methods: Participants were 89,587 children followed from birth to age ~18 years with linked administrative health records within a longitudinal population cohort study in New South Wales, Australia. The age at the first use of health services for ADHD was identified from records of subsidised medication prescriptions, ambulatory mental health service use, emergency department presentations and hospital admissions, and examined in relation to the child's sex assigned at birth.

Results: In this population cohort, 7,402 (8.3%) children accessed health services for ADHD before their 18th birthday. The percentage of girls with a record of using health services for ADHD (5.5%) was approximately half that for boys (10.9%). Girls were older at their first use of health services for ADHD (median age 13.6 years, modal age 17 years) than boys (median age 9.4 years, modal age 7 years).

Conclusion: Our findings emphasise the need to improve timely recognition and treatment of ADHD among girls.

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澳大利亚儿童首次接受ADHD医疗服务年龄的性别差异

目的：有证据表明，与男孩相比，患有多动症的女孩在儿童期被诊断为多动症并接受治疗的可能性更小。然而，尚不清楚在首次使用ADHD卫生服务方面是否存在性别差异。这项研究比较了男孩和女孩第一次接受ADHD医疗服务的年龄。方法：在澳大利亚新南威尔士州的一项纵向人口队列研究中，参与者是89,587名儿童，从出生到18岁，并有相关的行政健康记录。首次使用ADHD保健服务的年龄是根据补贴药物处方、门诊精神卫生服务使用、急诊科介绍和住院记录确定的，并根据儿童出生时的性别进行检查。结果：在这个人群队列中，7402名（8.3%）儿童在18岁生日之前因ADHD获得了卫生服务。有过ADHD卫生服务记录的女孩比例（5.5%）大约是男孩比例（10.9%）的一半。女孩因ADHD首次使用卫生服务的年龄（中位年龄13.6岁，模态年龄17岁）大于男孩（中位年龄9.4岁，模态年龄7岁）。结论：我们的研究结果强调了提高女孩ADHD的及时识别和治疗的必要性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Attention Disorders PSYCHIATRY-

CiteScore

7.60

自引率

6.70%

发文量

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： Journal of Attention Disorders (JAD) focuses on basic and applied science concerning attention and related functions in children, adolescents, and adults. JAD publishes articles on diagnosis, comorbidity, neuropsychological functioning, psychopharmacology, and psychosocial issues. The journal also addresses practice, policy, and theory, as well as review articles, commentaries, in-depth analyses, empirical research articles, and case presentations or program evaluations.