SynthesisEuropean child & adolescent psychiatry2019
Relative age and ADHD symptoms, diagnosis and medication: a systematic review.
Synthesis in European child & adolescent psychiatry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The role of comorbid childhood mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions in the persistence of ADHD symptoms: systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Pooled it
- Systematic review and meta-analysis: relative age in attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Academic achievement and socio-demographic differences in ADHD diagnosis: a population-based study of Swedish compulsory school pupils.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2026Article
- Early attention deficit hyperactivity disorder prediction from longitudinal electronic health records.Nature. Mental health · 2026Article
- Systemic review of the relative age effect in Scottish schooling: a public health imperative for policy reform and equity.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Adolescence then and now: a qualitative study on older adults' perceptions of adolescence and factors influencing mental health in adolescents today.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Objective diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder by using load cell movement analysis under a smart chair in a simulated classroom: influence of sex and age.Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders · 2025Article
- Can response to ADHD medication be predicted?European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Observational
- Relative age as a risk factor for psychiatric diagnoses in children born preterm and to term: a cohort study.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Article
- Relative Age Effects on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms and Educational Achievement: A Longitudinal UK Cohort Study.JAACAP open · 2024Article
- Increased diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder despite stable hyperactive/inattentive behaviours: evidence from two birth cohorts of Australian children.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2023Article
- The effect of school-entry age on health is understudied in low- and middle-income countries: A scoping review and future directions for research.SSM - population health · 2023Article
- Relative age in the school year and risk of mental health problems in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2023Article
- The Mediatory Role of Executive Functioning on the Association Between Sleep and Both Everyday Memory and ADHD Symptoms in Children and Youth With Down Syndrome.American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities · 2023Article
- Biological Predictors of Treatment Response in Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A Systematic Review.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Review
- Machine learning-based ABA treatment recommendation and personalization for autism spectrum disorder: an exploratory study.Brain informatics · 2022Article
- Relative Age Effect in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder at Various Stages of the Medicalization Process.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- National Norms for the Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Parent Rating Scale in Children.Journal of pediatric psychology · 2022Article
- Age within schoolyear and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in Scotland and Wales.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Childhood Disorder: Dysregulated Self-Conscious Emotions? Psychopathological Correlates of Implicit and Explicit Shame and Guilt in Clinical and Non-clinical Children and Adolescents.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is a growing international literature investigating the relationship between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and younger relative age within the school year, but results have been mixed. There are no published systematic reviews on this topic. This study aimed to systematically review the published studies on the relative age effect in ADHD. Systematic database searches of: Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, ERIC, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection and The Cochrane Library were conducted. Studies were selected which investigated the relative age effect in ADHD in children and adolescents. Twenty papers were included in the review. Sixteen (of 20) papers reported a significantly higher proportion of relatively younger children being diagnosed with ADHD and/or receiving medication for this. Meta-analyses involving 17 of these 20 papers revealed a modest relative age effect in countries with higher prescribing rates, risk ratio = 1.27 (95% CI 1.19-1.35) for receipt of medication. The relative age effect is well demonstrated in countries with known higher prescribing rates. Amongst other countries, there is also increasing evidence for the relative age effect, however, there is high heterogeneity amongst studies. Further research is needed to understand the possible reasons under-pinning the relative age effect and to inform attempts to reduce it.
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Registered trials
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