The prevalence of hyperactivity symptoms in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

The study was carried out to explore attention deficit-hyperactivity (ADH) symptoms in an Arab population. The subjects were 1110 primary-school children selected at random from a total of 31,764 children enrolled in the government schools in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The Conners Teachers' Rating Scale was used to examine ADH symptoms. An overall prevalence of 14.9% was found on the basis of the teachers' rating of the child's behaviour. Boys were more often reported to have the symptoms than girls, and those who scored above the cut-off were judged to be performing less well scholastically. The symptoms of attention deficit and hyperactivity do exist in this culture, but the findings are preliminary and must be replicated to confirm their validity.