Prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity developmental disorder among children in jimma zone, oromia region, South West Ethiopia

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a common childhood neuro- developmental disorder with early onset, affecting 5.4% and 8.7% of African children. Recent studies reveal that 30% to 70% of children continue to experience the problem in adulthood. In spite of high morbidity, a large majority of children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder remain undiagnosed or do not receive appropriate specialized services because of lack of technology. The disease causes impairments of personal, social, academic, or occupational functioning. Even though studies in Africa show that large numbers of children are having the disease, there is paucity of information on the prevalence in Ethiopia. This study was aimed todetermine the prevalence of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder among children in Jimma Zone, south west Ethiopia. Community based descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed among children aged between 6 to 16 years old. Simple random sampling was used to select 02 Woredas from 17 woredas in Jimma zone. Then 03 kebeles were randomly selected from each selected woredas; and in turn 406 study subjects were selected randomly from a household within each selected section, Multi stage cluster sampling. A validated an 18-items of the Disruptive Behaviour Disorder rating scale was used to investigate the presence of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder symptoms. Out of all, 95.3 %( n=387) of study participants were completed the interview and the prevalence of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder was found to be 13.7%, 95%CI (10.1, 17.3), with male to female ratio of nearly 1.3: 1. The prevalence was high in this study; that shows Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is significant public health issue that requires a great emphasis; affecting males more than females. So, early screening and intervention of the disease should be integrated in child care service settings and supported with high technology.