One way to understand the complex effects of childhood mental illness is to study how it connects to a range of health outcomes in the long term, and compares to physical health problems.
A new CAMH study took this approach, using population-level data to compare attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a common childhood mental illness, with asthma, injuries and other serious health problems.
“Mental health issues in childhood had a bigger impact on most outcomes in the early adult years than physical conditions,” says Dr. Claire de Oliveira, Health Economist and Scientist in CAMH’s Institute for Mental Health Policy Research. “The results affirm the need for early and appropriate supports for mental health care in childhood.”
Children with ADHD were more likely to have mental health problems as young adults, as well as having a greater likelihood of self-harming and being on social assistance, than those with either asthma, injury or other serious health problems, the study showed.
Dr. de Oliveira’s team looked at the health records of all 178,686 children born between 1992 and 1996 in Ontario, Canada, using ICES data on health care encounters.
They first determined how many of these children had visited a physician or been hospitalized for these conditions until the age of 18. As an example from one age range – 9- to 13-year-olds – 5 per cent had ADHD-related physician care, 17 per cent received treatment for asthma, and 45 per cent had an injury requiring medical attention.
Then the team looked at outcomes after the age of 18. They found that ADHD had an outsized effect on adult health and social outcomes, larger than both asthma and injury. As young adults, the former children with ADHD had poorer mental health and greater chance of self-harm than children with asthma or injury. They were also more likely to be on social assistance.
