Actually, it might be that doctors are quite accurate with diagnosing ADHD. The problem is that the sample of kids that they even get to examine is already biased - they may be the younger ones, in which parents or teachers just observed immaturity (which is probably uncorrelated to ADHD). Just a guess - maybe the paper addresses this issue.

Let's nip this in the butt before people actually think this is correct. This study confirms ONLY (edit: [redacted]) that development is affected by what kids do with themselves. (Duuuuuh.) It does NOT erase the fact that there are real, empirical differences between the brains of kids with and without ADHD. For example, it doesn't erase the fact that kids with ADHD do have demonstrably abnormal cerebral myelination.

ADHD is actually one of the most researched areas of Pediatric Psychiatry, so before everyone jumps on the Starbucks MD bandwagon, at least do the research. I don't want to be overly rude about this, and I apologize if I am, but it's hard to have patience for intellectual whack-a-mole.

I don't think the article or the parent comment make any claim that ADHD is not a real disorder.

What the study is saying is that children who are relatively young compared to their peers are diagnosed with ADHD at a higher rate because their teachers report them acting in ways "consistent with ADHD" more often than their peers. The physicians use these reports as part of their evidence when making a diagnosis. The explanation is that these children are probably just less mature due to relative age. Their ADHD diagnosis rate is higher than the other group of children, who are essentially the exact same age, but relatively old compared to their classmates.

Since the author of the parent comment expected other users to pick up what "anecdotal" evidence he was talking about, I took it to mean what it typically means.

I know what the study is saying. I wasn't responding directly to it.

I was talking about over diagnosis which is anecdotally an issue and is the conclusion the authors of this study drew.

My mistake then. I apologize.

How many kids are diagnosed with ADHD due to some objective measurement of their bodies?

No, it's "do you have problems with X or more of the following list items" + the physician's judgment.

The study does not contradict what you're saying.

Who's going to the first to mention Gladwell's Outliers? Oh wait, I just did.

What logically follows is that ADHD meds make you bad at hockey

Had to chuckle at that one. I was thinking it also gave you frizzy hair.