Quality of life of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders

Objective: To assess the quality of life of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD).

Methods: The PedsQL 4.0 generic core scales (Chinese Version) were administered to 73 ADHD children and 98 gender and age-matched healthy children. The parents of the children completed the Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire.

Results: A total of 169 out of 171 recruited families completed the questionnaires, with a response rate of 98.8%. The ADHD children had significantly lower scores (72.7 +/- 13.0) of PedsQL 4.0 than that of the healthy children (83.7 +/- 12.0, t = -49.3, P = 0.000). The Parent Proxy-Report total score of the ADHD children (70.0 +/- 12.4) was also lower than the normal controls (82.4 +/- 11.2, t = -57.7, P = 0.000). The psychosocial health functioning of ADHD children (Children Self-Report 68.6 +/- 14.5, Parent Proxy-Report 64.9 +/- 15.4) was consistently poorer than the Physical Functioning (Children Self-Report 81.2 +/- 14.0, Parent Proxy- Report 81.7 +/- 15.6) (P = 0.000). The ADHD children had significantly higher scores in Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire (44.54 +/- 17.89) than the normal controls (16.09 +/- 9.23, t = 100.08, P = 0.000). The PedsQL 4.0 scores were negatively correlated with school functioning scores, learning problems, hyperactivity index and the total scores of Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire (r = -0.650, -0.630, and -0.599 respectively, P = 0.000).

Conclusions: ADHD children suffer from poor quality of life and learning difficulties.