Nationwide rate of attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis and pharmacotherapy in Korea in 2008–2011

Introduction Using the National Health Insurance database in Korea, we examined the diagnostic and treatment incidence and comorbidity of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods During 2007–2011, we chose subjects aged 6–18 years, who had at least one medical claim containing an International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision code for diagnosis of ADHD (F90.0) with no medication use in the previous 360 days. Then, we analyzed the data for 2008–2011 to determine the mean annual incidence and prevalence of newly diagnosed and medicated patients, as well as comorbidity. Results The average annual diagnostic incidence of ADHD was 0.357% (29,310.5/8,218,252), and the incidence of medication use for ADHD was 0.248% (20,340.3/8,218,252) during 2008–2011 with no significant annual difference. The transition rate from diagnosis to medication among newly diagnosed ADHD patients was 69%. The overall prevalence rate of ADHD diagnosis and medication during 2008–2011 was 0.799% (65,702/8,218,252) and 0.610% (50,127/8,218,252), respectively. Among newly diagnosed patients with ADHD, osmotic-controlled release oral delivery system methylphenidate was the most commonly used first medication, and depression was the most common comorbid psychiatric diagnosis. Discussion This is the first report of the nationwide data on the current diagnosis and pharmacotherapy of ADHD in the whole population aged 6–18 years. We need further investigation to find the factors of low diagnostic and treatment incidence compared with high prevalence of ADHD.