Relationship between Injuries and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Population-Based Study with Long-Term Follow-Up in Taiwan

Objective: To investigate the association between various injuries and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and distinguish ADHD from non-ADHD with regards to risk of various injuries among children in Taiwan. Method: Using the data from the National Health Insurance Research Database, we selected a total of 1802 subjects under the age of 18 who were diagnosed with ADHD as well as an additional 7208 subjects as a comparison group. Results: Compared with children who were not diagnosed with ADHD, children diagnosed with ADHD were more likely to intentionally injure themselves. During the school year, ADHD children were injured less frequently than were non-ADHD children on traffic-related incidents. The adjusted hazard ratio of injury for the ADHD children was 2.493 times higher than that of comparison subjects. The ADHD children had a greater length of stay and medical cost when compared to those of the non-ADHD children. Age showed a significant inverse relationship with injury. Among the ADHD children, the injury rate was evidently higher for the low-income group than for the non-low-income group. Conclusions: Age, cause of injuries, low-income household status, and school season all have a significant connection to the risk of injury for ADHD children.