Behavioral symptoms among children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder during COVID-19 outbreak: a retrospective prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental conditions in children, and with the coronavirus pandemic, ADHD children now pose obvious challenges. This retrospective prospective cohort study was conducted on 150 ADHD children and adolescents that had previously attended the child unit of the Psychiatry Department, Zagazig University Hospitals, Sharkia, Egypt, and diagnosed as ADHD patients using the research diagnostic criteria of DSM-5 which administrated by experienced psychiatrists and evaluated by The Arabic version of Conner’s Parent Rating Scale Revised-short version (CPRS-48) before the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. We collected the other data of the study by applying an Arabic language questionnaire which included the data related to the COVID -19 pandemic and the Arabic version of CPRS-48 by which we reevaluated the behavioral symptoms of the subjects who participated in the study during COVID-19 pandemic. This research aimed to evaluate the behavioral symptoms among ADHD children and adolescents and detect the change in these symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic by comparing them before and during the pandemic. RESULTS: One hundred fifty ADHD children were included in the study with a mean age of 10 years old. The male gender was predominant and represented 76.7% of the sample. Ninety percent were living in urban areas with more low social class (50%), 84.7% of parents were married, 60% of the family member of our subjects had COVID-19 while 12% lost one or more of their relative by the pandemic (64.7%). The fathers continued working as normal, while 40.7% of the mothers stopped working because of COVID-19. 62.7% of the parents were verbally and physically abusive to their children. Unfortunately, 100% of the subjects stopped attending their behavioral therapy center, 96.0% stopped their Follow up with a psychiatrist, and 55% stopped complying with their medications. As we presumed, we found a statistically significant change in the behavioral and psychological symptoms measured by Conner’s Parent Rating Scale Revised-short version (CPRS-48) during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the period before. The worsening of the symptoms was associated with age, sex, residency, social class, father and mother present working and couple status, having positive cases or losses of COVID-19 among family members, and patient maltreatment. CONCLUSIONS: To conclude, this study suggests that the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened symptoms in a significant number of children and adolescents with ADHD, which needs clinical attention. Moreover, the patients’ psychiatric follow-up and compliance with their medications were markedly affected. Additionally, the lockdown has also led to an increase in the abusive behavior of the parents towards their children.