Rate of Disability Among Children Rises by 16 percent in Past Decade

Number of children suffering from mental health and neurodevelopmental disabilities has significantly increased in the last decade, a study revealed.

According to the study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting, the increase is more than 16 percent in 10 years.

The researchers studied data collected from the National Health Interview Survey that had a poll of more than 100,000 parents of children up to age 17 conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data was compared with the response from 2009-2010 to those collected in 2001-2002. However, the researchers are unclear about the reason behind the rise in the mental disability in children.

For the survey parents were asked about the kind of limitations their children have. These children were divided into three groups: physical disabilities, neurodevelopmental or mental health conditions and others.

The study found that around six million children had disability in 2009-2010, which is an increase of one million over 2001-2002. It also found that the physical disabilities declined while neurodevelopmental and mental problems witnessed an increase. The rate of neurodevelopmental disabilities doubled among children below 6 years of age.

The study stated that the children from lower economical strata had highest number of disability in both time frame but there was no significant growth and the rates of childhood disability increased among well-off families.

 "The survey did not break out autism, but we suspect that some of the increase in neurodevelopmental disabilities is due to the rising incidence or recognition of autism spectrum disorders," said lead study author Amy Houtrow of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.