Evidence of potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents: protocol for a scoping review
Introduction Worldwide, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis rates in children and adolescents have been increasing consistently over the past decades, fuelling a debate about the underlying reasons for this trend. While many hypothesise that a substantial number of these additi...
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| Format: | Article |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2019-11-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/11/e032327.full |
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| author | Alexandra Barratt Katy Bell Rae Thomas Kevin McGeechan Luise Kazda |
| author_facet | Alexandra Barratt Katy Bell Rae Thomas Kevin McGeechan Luise Kazda |
| author_sort | Alexandra Barratt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction Worldwide, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis rates in children and adolescents have been increasing consistently over the past decades, fuelling a debate about the underlying reasons for this trend. While many hypothesise that a substantial number of these additional cases are overdiagnosed, to date there has been no comprehensive evaluation of evidence for or against this hypothesis. Thus, with this scoping review we aim to synthesise published evidence on the topic in order to investigate whether existing literature is consistent with the occurrence of overdiagnosis and/or overtreatment of ADHD in children and adolescents.Methods and analysis The proposed scoping review will be conducted in the context of a framework of five questions, developed specifically to identify areas in medicine with the potential for overdiagnosis and overtreatment. The review will adhere to the Joanna Briggs Methodology for Scoping Reviews. We will search Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Library electronic databases for primary studies published in English from 1979 onwards. We will also conduct forward and backward citation searches of included articles. Data from studies that meet our predefined exclusion and inclusion criteria will be charted into a standardised extraction template with results mapped to our predetermined five-question framework in the form of a table and summarised in narrative form.Ethics and dissemination The proposed study is a scoping review of the existing literature and as such does not require ethics approval. We intend to disseminate the results from the scoping review through publication in a peer-reviewed journal and through conference presentations. Further, we will use the findings from our scoping review to inform future research to fill key evidence gaps identified by this review. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-828d31e3a2ab447a95568fe0db6d8f9c |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-11-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-828d31e3a2ab447a95568fe0db6d8f9c2025-08-20T02:28:32ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552019-11-0191110.1136/bmjopen-2019-032327Evidence of potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents: protocol for a scoping reviewAlexandra Barratt0Katy Bell1Rae Thomas2Kevin McGeechan3Luise Kazda4Wiser Healthcare University of SydneySydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, AustraliaInstitute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Bond University, Robina, Queensland, AustraliaSydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, AustraliaSydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, AustraliaIntroduction Worldwide, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis rates in children and adolescents have been increasing consistently over the past decades, fuelling a debate about the underlying reasons for this trend. While many hypothesise that a substantial number of these additional cases are overdiagnosed, to date there has been no comprehensive evaluation of evidence for or against this hypothesis. Thus, with this scoping review we aim to synthesise published evidence on the topic in order to investigate whether existing literature is consistent with the occurrence of overdiagnosis and/or overtreatment of ADHD in children and adolescents.Methods and analysis The proposed scoping review will be conducted in the context of a framework of five questions, developed specifically to identify areas in medicine with the potential for overdiagnosis and overtreatment. The review will adhere to the Joanna Briggs Methodology for Scoping Reviews. We will search Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Library electronic databases for primary studies published in English from 1979 onwards. We will also conduct forward and backward citation searches of included articles. Data from studies that meet our predefined exclusion and inclusion criteria will be charted into a standardised extraction template with results mapped to our predetermined five-question framework in the form of a table and summarised in narrative form.Ethics and dissemination The proposed study is a scoping review of the existing literature and as such does not require ethics approval. We intend to disseminate the results from the scoping review through publication in a peer-reviewed journal and through conference presentations. Further, we will use the findings from our scoping review to inform future research to fill key evidence gaps identified by this review.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/11/e032327.full |
| spellingShingle | Alexandra Barratt Katy Bell Rae Thomas Kevin McGeechan Luise Kazda Evidence of potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents: protocol for a scoping review BMJ Open |
| title | Evidence of potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents: protocol for a scoping review |
| title_full | Evidence of potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents: protocol for a scoping review |
| title_fullStr | Evidence of potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents: protocol for a scoping review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evidence of potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents: protocol for a scoping review |
| title_short | Evidence of potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents: protocol for a scoping review |
| title_sort | evidence of potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder adhd in children and adolescents protocol for a scoping review |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/11/e032327.full |
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