Paediatrics: Prevalence

Child and family psychiatry

Prevalence

·  The prevalence of child and adolescent mental health problems is similar across many Western countries (714–20%).

·  750% of those meeting symptom requirements for a diagnosis are also experiencing significant functional impairment.

·  As a consequence at any one time around 10% of children and adolescents are suffering from a clinically significant diagnosable mental health disorder (based on ICD-10 diagnostic criteria).¹

·  Mental disorders are more common in boys than girls (11% compared with 8%), and in teens compared with preteens 5–10yr olds—10% boys, 6% girls; 11–15yr olds—13% boys, 10% girls).¹

·  <20% children with mental health difficulties actually receive specialist care and most remain undiagnosed.

·  Applying the disability-adjusted life year (DALY) methodology, the burden of neuropsychiatric conditions affecting children is predicted to double by the year 2020.² The then US Surgeon General, David Satcher, summarized in 2001, ‘the burden of suffering experienced by children with mental health needs and their families has created a health crisis in this country’.³

·  Anybody can suffer from a mental health problem. However, adverse mental health is more commonly experienced by individuals from deprived or abusive backgrounds, from families that are financially disadvantaged or emotionally troubled. Single parent families and members of ethnic minority groups are over represented. These groups may also experience specific barriers to accessing child and adolescent mental health services that are predominantly clinic- or hospital-based.