The global burden of conduct disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in 2010

The Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010) is the first to include conduct disorder (CD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for burden quantification.

A previous systematic review pooled the available epidemiological data for CD and ADHD, and predicted prevalence by country, region, age and sex for each disorder. Prevalence was then multiplied by a disability weight to calculate years lived with disability (YLDs). As no evidence of deaths resulting directly from either CD or ADHD was found, no years of life lost (YLLs) were calculated. Therefore, the number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) was equal to that of YLDs.

Globally, CD was responsible for 5.75 million YLDs/DALYs with ADHD responsible for a further 491,500. Collectively, CD and ADHD accounted for 0.80% of total global YLDs and 0.25% of total global DALYs. In terms of global DALYs, CD was the 72nd leading contributor and among the 15 leading causes in children aged 5-19 years. Between 1990 and 2010, global DALYs attributable to CD and ADHD remained stable after accounting for population growth and ageing.

The global burden of CD and ADHD is significant, particularly in male children. Appropriate allocation of resources to address the high morbidity associated with CD and ADHD is necessary to reduce global burden. However, burden estimation was limited by data lacking for all four epidemiological parameters and by methodological challenges in quantifying disability. Future studies need to address these limitations in order to increase the accuracy of burden quantification.