Experts Call Lack of Consensus on ADHD a Major Health Problem

By Jessica Portner

The medical community is still unclear about the best way to diagnose and treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, the National Institutes of Health said last week. More than 2 million schoolchildren have ADHD, and many of them take strong medications to control their behavior.

The lack of a generally accepted method of diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up for those children is "a major public health problem," a panel of medical experts convened by the NIH said in a statement released last week.

Currently, there is no diagnostic test for ADHD, which is characterized by impulsivity and inattentiveness. Children with ADHD often have difficulty sitting still in school or performing tasks that require concentration for more than a short time. Panel members estimate that 5 percent of school-age children in the United States have...