Vol 11, N°1 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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ccording  to  the World  Health  Organization (WHO),1 mental health disorders are one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Three of the ten leading causes of disability in people between the ages of 15 and 44 are mental disorders, and the other causes are often associated with mental disorders. Both retrospective and prospective research has shown that most adulthood mental disorders begin in childhood and adolescence.2 This highlights the importance of gaining understanding of the magnitude, risk factors, and progression of mental disorders in youth. The aims of this review are: (i) to provide a background on the definition and goals of epidemiology and its con- tributions to our understanding of childhood mental dis- orders; (ii) to summarize the prevalence estimates of spe- cific mental disorders in children; (iii) to describe the correlates and risk factors, and service patterns for child- hood mental disorders in community surveys; and (iv) to describe key issues and future directions in research on the epidemiology of mental disorders in children. Background: epidemiology Definition and goals Epidemiology is defined as the study of the distribution and determinants of diseases in human populations. Epidemiologic studies are concerned with the extent S t a t e  o f  t h e  a r t Copyright © 2009 LLS SAS.  All rights reserved www.dialogues-cns.org Epidemiology of mental disorders in children and adolescents Kathleen Ries Merikangas, PhD; Erin F. Nakamura, BA; Ronald C. Kessler, PhD A Keywords:  epidemiology; children; adolescent; mental health;
psychiatric disorder; service; risk factor Author affiliations: Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch, National Institute of Mental   Health   Intramural   Research   Program,   Bethesda,   Maryland,   USA (Kathleen  Ries  Merikangas,  Erin  F.  Nakamura);  Department  of  Health  Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (Ronald C. Kessler) Address for correspondence: Kathleen Ries Merikangas, PhD, National Institute of Mental Health, Section on Developmental Genetic Epidemiology, Building 35, Room 1A201, 35 Convent Drive, MSC #3720, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA (e-mail: kathleen.merikangas@nih.gov) This article provides a review of the magnitude of men- tal disorders in children and adolescents from recent community surveys across the world. Although there is substantial variation in the results depending upon the methodological characteristics of the studies, the find- ings converge in demonstrating that approximately one fourth of youth experience a mental disorder during the past year, and about one third across their lifetimes. Anxiety disorders are the most frequent conditions in children, followed by behavior disorders, mood disor- ders, and substance use disorders. Fewer than half of youth  with  current  mental  disorders  receive  mental health  specialty  treatment.  However,  those  with  the most severe disorders tend to receive mental health ser- vices. Current issues that are now being identified in the field of child psychiatric epidemiology include: refine- ment of classification and assessment, inclusion of young children in epidemiologic surveys, integration of child and adult psychiatric epidemiology, and evaluation of both mental and physical disorders in children. © 2009, LLS SAS Dialogues Clin Neurosci.  2009;11:7-20.