Epidemiological Study for Psychiatric Disorder Among Children and Adolescents
Condition: Mental Disorders
MeSH terms: Mental Disorders; Problem Behavior
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      This 3-year school-based epidemiological study on child and adolescent mental disorders aims
      to obtain the prevalence rate and identify the psychosocial, individual, environmental, and
      familial risk factors for mental disorders including learning disability, autism spectrum
      disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct
      disorder, mood disorders (major depression, dysthymia, bipolar disorder), anxiety disorders,
      phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, sleep disorders, eating disorders, and substance use
      disorders in Taiwan.
    

Detailed description: 
      Despite several waves of epidemiological studies in adult and elderly mental disorders in the
      past decades, revealing inconsistent results, little is known about the prevalence of mental
      disorders in the child and young adolescent population in Taiwan. However, there is an
      increasing trend of child and adolescent mental disorders over the past decades consistently
      reported across countries. With the revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
      Mental Disorders to the current version-5th edition (DSM-5), there has been no
      epidemiological study using DSM-5 in youth population in the world. The DSM-5 was published
      in October 2014. It warrants an epidemiological study on child and adolescent mental
      disorders using the DSM-5 as diagnostic criteria in Taiwan.

      This is a two-stage design to conduct screening for mental disorders including autism and all
      neuropsychological studies in addition to questionnaires. Moreover, clinical assessment will
      be conducted among urban students (n = 3000) and rural students (n = 1500) from a three-stage
      cluster sampling. All the screen positive (estimated n = 900) and 10% of screen negative
      (estimated n = 360) will receive the full diagnostic interview (K-SADS-E to obtain the
      pregnancy, developmental and medical history. For students who leave of absence, we will
      visit them at home to complete all the assessments.

      The investigators anticipate this study will provide the prevalence of a wide range of
      developmental and psychiatric disorders in children and our results will also provide a
      comprehensive risk factors for each psychiatric disorder identified in this study, including
      neurocognitive, developmental, familiar, and environmental factors. The individual, combined,
      and interactive effects of these predictors can be identified in this study. This study will
      definitely provide precious data for the government to develop a preventive program for
      mental disorders and a promotion program for mental health and well-being.
    

Intervention name(s): No intervention
Intervention type(s): Other
Observational model: Ecologic or Community
Time perspective: Cross-Sectional
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        School students aged 8-14 in Taiwan