A Meta-Analysis of the Prevalence of ADHD in Youth Across Racial and Ethnic Groups

To compare the prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among Asian, Black, Latino, and White children and adolescents across studies while considering method of diagnosis.

Studies were included if they reported the prevalence of ADHD among at least two different racial/ethnic groups in an unselected population. Studies were grouped based on the method of diagnosis; studies involving juvenile offenders were analyzed separately. A total of 9,019 articles were retrieved and 371 articles were evaluated. After excluding studies with overlapping datasets, 28 studies were included in the population-based meta-analysis, and five studies were included in the meta-analysis involving juvenile offenders.

For studies asking caregivers if the child had received a diagnosis of ADHD (k = 23), the pooled prevalence of ADHD was lower for Latino (6.1%) and Asian (2.6%) youth than White youth (10.5%); the prevalence in Black youth (9.4%) was not significantly different from White youth. Among juvenile offenders (k = 5), the prevalence of ADHD was significantly lower in Black (19.1%) and Latino (17.0%) youth than in White youth (31.9%).

The present study finds some racial/ethnic differences in prevalence rates of ADHD. The study demonstrates that the type of sample and method for assessing ADHD diagnosis are important to consider.