epidemiology of attention deficit and disruptive behaviour disorders in elementary school children of gonabad town, north east iran (1996-1997)

using the persian version of gadow's child syptom inventory (sci-4), an attempt was made to determine the prevalence of attention deficit and disruptive behaviours among elementary school children of gonabad town in the north eastern khorasan province of iran. subjects consisted of 400 children (202 boys and 198 girls) ages 7 to 12 years attending grades 1-5 of public primary schools. they had been randomly chosen to represent the population of primary school pupils of the town. during the first phase of the study, 100 of the children selected for study were rated by their mothers and teachers using the csi-4. the same children were then interviewed by a trained psychiatrist who also filled the csi-4 for each of them.using the latter ratings as a criterion, the sensitivity andspecificity of ratings made by mothers and teachers were deetermined and a cut-off point was established for diagnosis of hyperactivit and disruptive behaviour disorder. applying this cut-off point to the total sample of children rated by their teacers and mothers (n=400) it was found that %21.8 of boys as compared with %12.1 of girls meet the dsm-iv criteria for attention deficit and disruptive behaviour disorders. the majority of children (%9.9 of boys and %8.1 of girls) identified as behaviourally disturbed manifested symptoms of hyperactivity / attention deficit disorder. the second most prevalent category of behaviorla disturbance was conduct disorder (manifested by %8.99 of boys and %4.0 of girls). defiant oppositional disorder was shown only by %5.9 of boys and %3.0 of girls.among boys, the highest rates of disorder were shown by the six children aged 12 plus (%100). all of whom were below their age level in terms of academic progress and has been rated as, academically very werak, by their teachers. rates of behaviour disorder tended to be higher among children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.