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Gerald Kaufman, PhD
New York State Department of Health Room 742, Corning Tower Building Albany, NY 12237-0607

Anthony Malone, MD
Albany

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1996;150(5):558.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The results reported in the article by Rappley et al¹ in the June 1995 issue of the ARCHIVES are misleading regarding the extent of attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) in Michigan. They underestimate what appears to be a major "epidemic" and/or large-scale overdiagnosing of ADHD.

The method used to determine ADHD is based on an analysis of only 2 months of prescribing methylphenidate hydrochloride. As indicated in a literature review, Sherman and Hertzig² found that more than half of all methylphenidate prescriptions written during 1986 in New York were for 1 prescription per child per year. If Michigan's prescribing was similar to New York's, and 50% of the patients received only 1 methylphenidate prescription per year, the authors could have missed 42% of the patients diagnosed and treated for ADHD during 1 year from this factor alone, besides missing other patients receiving more than 1 prescription in 1 year . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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