Objectives: The purpose of this brief is to describe changes in the treated prevalence of medically managed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among insured school-aged children and adolescents in the United States from 2009 to 2015. We examine the differences between those with employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) and with Medicaid insurance.
Methods: We utilized two large longitudinal administrative datasets containing medical and drug claims data on individuals with ESI and Medicaid insurance from Truven Health MarketScan® Administrative Claims Databases. Treated prevalence was measured as the percentage of school-aged children and adolescents enrolled in a calendar year who met the criteria for medically managed ADHD in the same calendar year. Subjects were eligible for inclusion if they were aged 6-17 years and were continuously enrolled during a calendar year.
Results: The annual prevalence of treated ADHD among school-aged children and adolescents with ESI increased from 4.5% in 2009 to 6.7% in 2015. Among those with Medicaid it increased from 11.3% in 2009 to 13.3% in 2012, and fell after 2012, remaining steady from 2013 through 2015.
Conclusion: Treated prevalence of ADHD increased continuously over time among school-aged children and adolescents with ESI, but declined slightly after 2012 among those in the Medicaid sample.
Keywords: adolescents; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; children; treated prevalence; trend.