A comparison between child psychiatric outpatients with AD/HD and anxiety/depression

Studies have shown that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) have a lower quality of life (QoL), and lower school and psychosocial functioning than healthy children.

This is the first study to compare these domains and child competence between children with AD/HD- and anxiety/depression-related problems and healthy children using data from multiple informants.

Children were matched by age and sex, resulting in two clinical groups consisting of 62 children with AD/HD-related problems, 49 children with anxiety/depression-related problems and a reference group of 65 healthy schoolchildren. The Inventory of Life Quality for Children and Adolescents (parent and child report), the Child Behaviour Checklist (parent report), the Teacher's Report Form and the Children's Global Assessment Scale (therapist evaluation) were used. Differences between group means were analysed by t-tests and analysis of variance.

The AD/HD group reported a significantly higher QoL than did the Anxiety/Depression group. However, no significant differences in QoL were found between the two clinical groups by parent proxy report. The AD/HD group reported a significantly higher QoL than shown by parent proxy evaluation. According to parent and teacher reports, both clinical groups showed significantly lower school functioning than the group of healthy children. Further, the AD/HD group showed significantly lower school functioning and total competence than the Anxiety/Depression group.

To obtain a full clinical picture of subgroups of patients with AD/HD- and anxiety/depression-related problems referred to child mental health outpatient treatment, clinicians should always use multiple informants to evaluate symptoms/problems, functioning and QoL.