[Psychiatric comorbidity related to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at schools in Sfax,...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent behavioral disorder particularly noticed among school children. It is often associated with other psychological troubles at the origin of an additional difficulty that has to be overcome.

Our research's aim was to study the comorbidity of school-aged children diagnosed with ADHD in Sfax, Tunisia.

A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out from 1st April 2008 to 1st October 2008. Five hundred and thirteen pupils aged between 6 and 12, from primary arbitrarily chosen schools from Sfax were subjected to this study. Measurements were carried out in two steps: parents and teachers of each child filled in separately Conners questionnaire, then children with a score in subscales inattention, hyperactivity impulsivity higher than 70 were selected for psychiatric interview that was intended to confirm or to invalidate the ADHD diagnosis and the possible comorbid diagnosis. The diagnoses were made according to DSM-IV-TR.

We have noticed that 109 pupils exhibited at least one pathological score on the Conners questionnaire. After interviewing these 109 pupils, the results have shown that 51 among them fulfilled criteria of ADHD. Prevalence of ADHD was found to be 9.94 %. About 72.54 % of children with ADHD had one or more comorbid disorder: learning disabilities (23.52 % of cases), anxiety disorder (31.37 % of cases), oppositional defiant disorder in (15.68 % of cases), mood disorder (3.92 % of cases), enuresis (13.72 % of cases) and slight mental retardation (1.95 % of cases).

We can say that this study has shown that ADHD school children's psychiatric comorbidity is similar to any other previous study.