Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder tendency and unintentional injury among adolescents in China

This study aims to investigate the association between ADD tendency, with or without hyperactivity, and all types of unintentional injuries among adolescents. This study was a population-based health survey utilising a two-stage random cluster sampling design. The study was conducted among high school students in Nanning, the capital city of the Guangxi Province, China. Subjects were recruited from the total population of adolescents who attended high school years 1, 2, and 3 with ages ranging from 13 to 17 years. Information on ADD was collected by trained health professional via personal interviews. Other information, including unintentional injury was collected via a self-report health survey questionnaire. One thousand and twenty-nine (n = 1429) students were recruited with 115 (7.9%) identified as having a high ADD tendency, and 340 (22.6%) reported as having experienced an injury in the last 3 months. After adjusting for other potential confounding factors, results from the logistic regression analyses indicated that adolescents who scored high on the ADD tendency had an increased risk of injury by about 70% as compared to those who scored low (OR = 1.68, 95%CI = 1.18–2.40). ADD tendency has been identified as a potential risk factor of injury among adolescents. Screening for risk factors can be considered as a potential preventive strategy.