Prevalence of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder among children with mental retardation from the City of Bucaramanga, Colombia

Attention defi cit andhyperactivity symptoms are common among children withmental retardation (MR). However, there is little informationabout the prevalence of attention defi cit and hyperactivitydisorder (ADHD) among patients with MR. Objective: toEstablish the ADHD prevalence among children from theout patient department of a psychiatric hospital of the cityof Bucaramanga, Colombia. Method: Descriptive study. Childrenages 6 to 12 with intellectual coeffi cient below 70 wereincluded. ADHD was evaluated by DSM-IV semi-structuredinterview for attention defi cit hyperactivity disorder. Results:Thirty-four children were evaluated. 20 (58.9%) of them weremale; 18 children (52.9%) had mild MR and 16 children(47.1%) moderate MR. We found that 19 (55.9%) of them,met the ADHD criteria, regardless of gender of MR severity.Conclusions: ADHD is frequent among children with MR,regardless of gender or the severity of their MR.