Detection and Evaluation of Attention Deficit Hyperkinetic Disorder (ADHD) in Adult Indian Students of different programmes using Adult Self Report Scale v1.1(ASRS v1.1).

Detection and Evaluation of Attention Deficit Hyperkinetic Disorder (ADHD) in Adult

Abstract

Introduction: ADHD is a pervasive complex and an under-recognized heterogenous neurodevelopmental disorder. Of its two major components, inattentiveness and hyperactivity, the latter is diagnosed early on, but inattentiveness is perceived as a lack of focus and tends to be diagnosed late. Worldwide prevalence of ADHD is between 5.29% to 7.1% in children and adolescents, of which upto 60% persist into adulthood. Only one study has been published on adult ADHD, in India, and that too in an out-patient psychiatric setting. Objectives: Study the epidemiological presence of ADHD in Indian Adult Undergraduate students using the ASRS v1.1 score. Conduct a comparative analysis of ADHD prevalence amongst Students in different vocations. Inform the study subjects about the scores obtained in ADHD and guidance given thereby. Method: After obtaining Institutional Ethics committee approval, 300 undergraduates from diverse educational programmes (100 from medicine, 100 from Engineering and 100 from other courses) were approached over a six-month period from March to August 2018. Subjects, irrespective of gender or ethnicity, after providing informed consent, attempted ASRS-v1.1. This was followed by an audiovisual presentation to impart knowledge of ADHD to the subjects. Data was entered into MS Excel 2016® and was analyzed using SPSS software 23.0 version® (Armonk, NY, IBM corporation). P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result:. Out of 300 Indian under-graduates, only 3.33% were in the high risk group (2B). In both Medicine and law, over 75% of the students fall into the no risk Group 1. 4% of Law students, 6% of medical, 7% of Engineering and 8% of Commerce, Nursing and Arts students were in the high risk Group 2B. Mean score was 10.02±3.967 for Medical students, 11.86±3.698 for Engineering students and 11.68±3.321 for Others. Medical students had the lowest Inattentiveness Trait Score (ITS) scores amongst the three groups and the p value for Engineering versus Medical was 0.0001 and that of Medical versus Others was 0.0007. The study was limited by its small sample size and larger studies are needed to accurately evaluate the true incidence of Adult ADHD in India. As of now, no such study exists and hence our study shall prove to be a pilot study for all future projects on this subject. Conclusion: Adult Indian Medical students have the lowest ITS scores and are least likely to have persistent ADHD symptoms in adulthood. Only 3.33% of Indian University Undergraduates show high level ADHD symptoms, compared to higher numbers in other countries. [Jhaveri S Natl J Integr Res Med, 2019; 10(5):28-34]