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Increase the proportion of children and adolescents with ADHD who get appropriate treatment — EMC‑04 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About this objective  |  Methodology  |  History

About this objective

Data

Data Source:  National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), HRSA/MCHB

National baseline: 75.4 percent of children and adolescents aged 4 to 17 years with current ADHD had received treatment for ADHD (behavior treatment for children aged 4 to 5 years; medication and/or behavior treatment for children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years) in the past 12 months in 2016-17

National target: 79.6 percent

Numerator
Number of children and adolescents aged 4 to 17 years whose parent reported that the child currently has ADHD and who received behavioral treatment for ADHD if ages 4 to 5 years, and behavioral treatment or medication if ages 6 to 17 years.
Denominator
Number of children and adolescents aged 4 to 17 years whose parent reported a health provider diagnosis of current ADHD.
National target-setting method
Percentage point improvement
National target-setting method details
Percentage point improvement from the baseline using Cohen's h effect size of 0.10.
1
National target-setting method justification
Trend data were not available for this objective. A percentage point improvement was calculated using Cohen's h effect size of 0.1. This method was used because only baseline information was available. While Healthy People targets are applicable at the national level, this target will remain more stable when calculating targets by state.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)

From the 2016 and 2017 National Survey of Children's Health:

Numerator and Denominator:
Has a doctor or other health care provider EVER told you that this child has Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, that is, ADD or ADHD?
  1. Yes
  2. No
If yes, does this child CURRENTLY have the condition?
  1. Yes
  2. No
Numerator:
Is this child CURRENTLY taking medication for ADD or ADHD?
  1. Yes
  2. No
At any time DURING THE PAST 12 MONTHS, did this child receive behavioral treatment for ADD or ADHD, such as training or an intervention that you or this child received to help with his or her behavior?
  1. Yes
  2. No

Methodology notes

Denominator is based on children whose parents answer yes on both questions about ADHD: having been 'ever told' the child had ADHD, and 'currently has' ADHD.

Numerator is based on children who currently have ADHD and receive recommended treatment, defined as:

  • For children ages 4-5 years of age: yes to having received behavioral treatment
  • For children ages 6-17 years of age: yes to having received behavioral treatment OR yes to taking medication

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Related, which includes objectives that have the same or a similar intent to either a measurable or developmental/archived objective in Healthy People 2020.
Revision History
Revised. 

In April 2024, imputation and weighting by race and ethnicity were revised for the 2022 National Survey of Children's Health. To ensure comparability for trending, these changes were applied retroactively to data from the NSCH from 2016 through 2021 also. As a result, in 2025, the baseline was revised from 75.2% in 2016-2017 to 75.4% in 2016-2017. The target was revised from 79.4% to 79.6% using the original target setting method.

1. Effect size h=0.1 was chosen to correspond with 10% improvement from a baseline of 50%.