Nutritional Status of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Document Type : Research articles

Authors

1 Pediatric Nursing Department. Faculty of Nursing. Alexandria University.

2 Psychiatric Medicine Department. Faculty of Medicine. Alexandria University.

Abstract

Background: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common 
neurobiological disorders affecting children in different parts of the globe. It is not only deficient 
attention or excessive activity but also a cluster of behaviors or a syndrome comprising of several 
connected symptoms. Objective: to assess the nutritional status of children with ADHD. Settings: The 
study was conducted at the Pediatric Neurological Disorder Outpatient Clinic of Specialized 
University Hospital at Smouha and Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic at El-Hadara 
University Hospital in Alexandria. Subjects: A convenient sample of 120 children with ADHD and 
their mothers. Tools: Four tools were used namely; sociodemograghic characteristics of children and 
their mothers as well as medical history of children structured interview schedule, anthropometric 
measurements of the children sheet, health assessment observational sheet, and dietary pattern of 
children questionnaire sheet. Results: The study revealed that 41.7% of children were obese, 21.7% 
were overweight, while 36.6% of them were considered normal regarding to body mass index for age. 
It was also noticed that only 5.8% of children were underweight regarding to their weight for age and 
4.2% had short stature regarding to their height for age. Conclusion: it can be concluded that the 
highest percent of children were obese regarding to their body mass index, most of children received 
proteins during the day and nearly two thirds of them received food rich in iron and Zinc. 
Unfortunately, all children consumed food contains preservatives or food colors and three quarters of 
them received sweets. Recommendations: Nutritional screening should be formulated periodically for 
all children with ADHD for early detection and monitoring of their growth

Keywords