Receipt of Behavioral Therapy in Preschool-Age Children with ADHD and Coexisting Conditions: A DBPNet Study

Practice guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics recommend evidence-based behavioral therapy (BT) as first-line treatment for preschool-age children with ADHD, prior to medication initiation. Thus, this study's objective is to present the frequency of physician-documented receipt of BT in preschool-age children with ADHD prior to medication initiation and to determine factors associated with receipt BT receipt.

This retrospective medical record review was conducted across 7 Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Research Network (DBPNet) sites. Data were abstracted for children <72 months old seen by a DBP clinician and initiated on ADHD medication between 1/1/2013-7/1/2017. From narrative text of the medical records, BT receipt was coded as: parent training in behavior management (PTBM), Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), other, or did not receive.

Of the 497 children in this study; 225 children (45%) had reported receipt of any BT prior to ADHD medication initiation, with 15.9% (n = 79) receiving PTBM. Children with co-existing diagnoses of ASD or disruptive behavior disorder were more likely to receive BT than children without co-existing conditions (59.3% vs 69.0% vs 30.6%). There was significant site variability in reported receipt of BT, ranging from 22.4% to 74.1%, and sex and insurance were not associated with BT rates.

The percentage of children with documented receipt of any BT, and particularly PTBM, was low across all sites and co-existing conditions. These findings highlight the universal need to increase receipt of evidence-based BT for all young children with ADHD.