Sweden stands out in the global statistics on the number of people diagnosed with ADHD.
The number of ADHD diagnoses has increased sharply over time in Sweden. The increase has occurred among children, young people and adults. The increase shows no signs of slowing down, says Social Affairs Minister Jakob Forssmed (KD) at a press conference.
The National Board of Health and Welfare estimates that the percentage with an ADHD diagnosis will continue to increase to 15 percent for boys and 11 percent for girls before the trend levels off.
It is a major societal challenge, says Forssmed.
“Immense pressure”
The Swedish Medicines Agency is tasked with increasing the knowledge of the actors involved. The treatment recommendations for medicines for children and young people with ADHD need to be reviewed and updated, according to the Minister of Social Affairs.
They were presented in 2016. A lot has happened since then, an explosion of diagnoses, but there have also been new drugs and new research that warrant a review.
The review should look at the consequences of a possible extended prescription right for ADHD drugs, according to the minister. Today, all prescribing and renewal of prescriptions must take place within specialist care.
With greatly increased diagnostics, it creates enormous pressure on the businesses and long queues for patients. We want to review the possibilities for more doctors to be able to prescribe ADHD medication, says Forssmed.
What is it due to?
Several things may have caused the increase, according to Forssmed, which also emphasizes that more knowledge is needed.
Partly, the knowledge and awareness of ADHD has increased within healthcare and schools as well as among the general public. Broadened diagnosis criteria also means that more people are covered by neuropsychiatric diagnoses, and another factor may be that a diagnosis is often perceived as a requirement to get access to support at school, according to the minister.
The Minister of Social Affairs also admits that the knowledge requirements in school can be “too ambitious”, with the result that students who have difficulty in passing school intellectually come to child and youth psychiatry with ADHD questions.
At the same time, there are no established reasons for the increasing number of diagnoses, according to the National Board of Health and Welfare.
“It is unclear what is driving the development in that direction,” states the authority in an investigation from last year.
Facts: ADHD
Adhd (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is a disability that involves various types of difficulties in everyday life. ADHD manifests itself in different areas of life, and the degree can vary widely. In Sweden, the disability is often described as neuropsychiatric, a term that also usually includes, for example, autism, tics and Tourette’s syndrome.
Typical of ADHD:
• difficulty focusing and maintaining attention
• difficulty managing impulses
• overactivity
If overactivity and impulsivity are absent, ADHD is also called add.