Health officials report that Louisiana has the nation's highest rate of ADHD diagnoses among children.

Most of us are familiar with ADHD. As a summary, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder limits a person's ability to focus, hold attention or control impulsive behavior.

The report shows that Louisiana has the highest ADHD diagnosis rate in the nation among children ages 2-11 at 11 percent. The national average was about 4.6 percent for the report, which covers 2010 to 2017.

So why are these numbers so much higher in the Bayou State? Lake Charles area pediatrician Anatole Karpovs explains.

The factors in Louisiana that might make that more available is that we do have higher unhealthy children and so if you have unhealthy bodies then often times their mind can be unhealthy.

Another interesting statistic in the report is that Louisiana also has the highest medication-only treatment rate at 61.7%.

Some of the national findings from the study are:

  • Diagnosis rates are higher in the South and lower in the West, with a nearly three-fold difference between the rates of the highest and lowest states.
  • All states saw an increase in diagnosis rates of ADHD in children from 2010 to 2017 except North Dakota, which decreased 9% from 6.3 to 5.7.
  • ADHD is most prevalent among middle school-aged children (11-13 years old), and boys are diagnosed about twice as often as girls.
  • ADHD accounts for 16% of the impact all health conditions have on Generation Z (0-19 years old).

 

More From 99.9 KTDY