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A comparison of North American versus non-North American ADHD study populations

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Abstract

Few large, prospective clinical studies in Europe have assessed the validity and applicability of research methods used to study ADHD in North America. To assess comparability of study populations, we examined baseline patient characteristics from a group of North American studies against those of a large European/African/Australian study. All studies used identical diagnostic assessments and inclusion criteria, with ADHD diagnosis and the presence of comorbid psychiatric conditions confirmed using the KSADS-PL. Raters were trained and assessed to ensure uniform diagnostic and symptom severity rating standards. Six hundred and four patients (mean age=10.2 years) enrolled in the non-North American study, and 665 patients (mean age=10.4 years) enrolled in the North American study. The proportion of girls was higher in the North American studies (29.2% vs. 10.4%, p < 0.001). In both groups, most patients had a positive family history of ADHD and previous stimulant treatment. Fewer had the inattentive subtype of ADHD, and mean severity was slightly higher in the non-North American study. Results demonstrate that, when a uniform set of rigorous, standardized diagnostic criteria are used by skilled clinicians, the patient populations identified are generally similar. This supports the practice of generalizing results from treatment studies across geographies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Psychiatry, Academic Centre for Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medical Centre St. Radboud, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Jan K. Buitelaar

  2. North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, Abbey Hulton Clinic, Stock-On-Trent, Staffordshire, UK

    Joanne Barton

  3. Dept. of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Catholic University/U.Z. Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium

    Marina Danckaerts

  4. Edgar Friedrichs, Heiligenstadt, Oberfranken, Germany

    Edgar Friedrichs

  5. Dept. of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden

    Christopher Gillberg

  6. Hunter Mental Health Services, Child & Youth Mental Health Service, Wallsend, NSW, Australia

    Philip L. Hazell

  7. Antwerp Child & Adolescent Psychiatric & Psychotherapeutic Centre, Berchem, Belgium

    Hans Hellemans

  8. Barnneuropsykiatriska Kliniken, Göteborg, Sweden

    Mats Johnson

  9. Academic Centre for Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Luuk J. Kalverdijk

  10. Stella Maris Scientific Institute, Division of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Gabriele Masi

  11. Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly & Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    David Michelson & Shuyu Zhang

  12. Neurological Hospital, Lyon, France

    Olivier Revol

  13. Hospital Ramón y Cajal Unit of Child Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain

    Javier San Sebastian

  14. Dept. of Neuroscience, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    Alessandro Zuddas

Authors
  1. Jan K. Buitelaar
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  2. Joanne Barton
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  3. Marina Danckaerts
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  4. Edgar Friedrichs
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  5. Christopher Gillberg
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  6. Philip L. Hazell
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  7. Hans Hellemans
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  8. Mats Johnson
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  9. Luuk J. Kalverdijk
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  10. Gabriele Masi
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  11. David Michelson
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  12. Olivier Revol
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  13. Javier San Sebastian
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  14. Shuyu Zhang
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  15. Alessandro Zuddas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jan K. Buitelaar.

Additional information

The review process, editorial handling, and acceptance of this paper has been done by Helmut Remschmidt, co-editor.

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Buitelaar, J.K., Barton, J., Danckaerts, M. et al. A comparison of North American versus non-North American ADHD study populations. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 15, 177–181 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-005-0523-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-005-0523-2

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