Vision problems in Children with ADHD diagnosis study

Children with uncorrectable vision problems are almost twice as likely to receive a diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than children with normal vision, according to a retrospective study from researchers at the University of Birmingham, Alabama, School of Medicine.

Lead author Dawn DeCarlo, OD, with the school's Department of Ophthalmology, and colleagues had noticed many children seen in their clinic for impaired vision also had an ADHD diagnosis. After determining that the prevalence of ADHD was indeed higher among visually impaired children at the clinic, the researchers confirmed the suspected association using data from the 2011/2012 National Survey of Children's Health (NCSH).

The NCSH is a randomized telephone survey that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCSH) periodically administer to parents to gather information on children's physical and mental health.

For the current study, researchers analyzed data pertaining to more than 75,000 children aged 4 to 17 included in the 2011 / 2012 NCSH. The survey asked parents whether a health care provider had ever told them their child had a vision problem that was not correctable with glasses or contact lenses and, if so, whether the problem was mild, moderate, or severe. Parents were also asked whether their child had an ADHD diagnosis and, if they said yes, how severe it was.

Approximately 1000 children out of 75,000 (1.5%) had uncorrectable vision problems. An estimated 16% of children with vision problems had a current ADHD diagnosis compared with 8% of children whose vision was normal (P <.001). Children with vision problems accounted for almost 3% of all those with current ADHD.

• Only children with mild to moderate vision problems had an increased risk of an ADHD diagnosis; these children were also more likely to have more severe ADHD.
• The authors did not find an increased risk of ADHD among children with severe vision problems, which they said could be because the population was small.

Additional studies considering age at time of diagnosis and method of ADHD diagnosis as well as symptoms present and treatment for ADHD among children with visual impairment are underway. These studies will further elucidate the association between vision impairment and ADHD.

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