TOPLINE

The prevalence of developmental disabilities among US children aged 3-17 years increased to 20.45% (2023-2024) from 16.73% (2019-2020) according to parent reports. Significant increases were observed for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), learning disability, and any other developmental delay.

METHODOLOGY

• Researchers analyzed data from the 2019-2024 national household survey in the United States conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics.
• A total of 39,217 children aged 3-17 years were included in the analysis.
• Parents reported whether a doctor or healthcare provider had ever informed that their child had ADHD, ASD, intellectual disability, or any other developmental delay and whether a health professional or school representative had told them their child had a learning disability.
• Weighted prevalence estimates were determined for developmental disabilities overall and for each of the five specific disabilities, both cumulatively and across 2-year time intervals.
• The associations between 2-year time intervals and the prevalence of developmental disabilities were assessed, with adjustment for demographic and socioeconomic factors and level of urbanization.

TAKEAWAY

• The overall prevalence of any developmental disability among children rose from 16.73% to 20.45% between 2019-2020 and 2023-2024 among children aged 3-17 years (P < .001). Statistically significant increases were also observed for ADHD (from 9.52% to 12.00%), ASD (from 3.14% to 4.47%), learning disability (from 7.60% to 8.83%), and any other developmental delay (from 5.47% to 6.35%) during the same timeframe.
• Between 2019-2020 and 2023-2024, the prevalence of ASD rose by 42.4% (P < .001), with the most pronounced relative increase observed among children aged 3-5 years (an increase of 120.5%), those in nonmetropolitan areas (an increase of 85.8%), those with a family income below 200% federal poverty level (an increase of 60.8%), and girls (an increase of 58.3%).
• The prevalence of ADHD among children rose by 26.1% from 2019-2020 to 2023-2024 (P < .001). The most substantial relative gains were observed among those from families with income at or above 200% federal poverty level (an increase of 43.7%), those residing in large metropolitan areas (an increase of 30.2%), non-Hispanic White children (an increase of 35.2%), and girls (an increase of 30.4%).
• Between 2019-2020 and 2023-2024, the overall prevalence of learning disability increased by 16.2% (P < .001) and that of any other developmental delay increased by 16.1% (P = .02), with the largest relative increases seen among non-Hispanic Asian children.

IN PRACTICE

"Given this increasing prevalence, continued monitoring of developmental disability trends in the population may be critical in determining the adequacy and accessibility of services and interventions, particularly among these subgroups of children who have experienced significant increases in prevalence in recent years," the authors wrote.

SOURCE

The study was led by Benjamin Zablotsky, PhD, of the CDC at the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland. It was published online on September 22 in Pediatrics.

LIMITATIONS

Parental reporting of diagnoses may have a potential for recall biases, especially in older pediatric populations who obtained a diagnosis during early childhood that may no longer apply. Clinical validation using medical or educational records was not performed. Data were restricted to ages 3-17 years, which could underestimate actual developmental disabilities burden across children of all ages.

DISCLOSURES

The study did not receive any external funding. The authors reported no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.