Conference focuses on attention-deficit disorder

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Depending on who is talking, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder can be a real problem affecting anywhere from 1 to 20 percent of school-age children. On the other hand, some call it a phantom diagnosis created to stimulate health care industry and drug company profits at the expense of children's health and unwary parents' pocketbooks.

This week at the Surgeon General's Conference on Children's Mental Health, families, professionals and scientists gathered to discuss issues focusing on treatment, diagnosis -- and misdiagnosis.

"We believe that more than 4 percent of the children in this country suffer ADHD," Surgeon General David Satcher told CNN. "We want to know how to better identify and refer children for treatment."

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U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher says problems caused by ADHD can be prevented if the disease is properly diagnosed WAVsound

Researchers are looking for better diagnostic tools. But for now, detecting the disorder depends on naturally biased criteria, such as opinions about behavior and activity gleaned from parents, teachers and doctors.

"Since that's a subjective piece of information, it does lend just a touch of unreliability at times to the diagnosis," said Russell Barkley, director of psychology and neurology at the University of Massachusetts.

Studies are being done using imaging techniques to see whether anything different can be detected in the brains of people who have the condition. One, using a chemical called altrapane, has shown promising results in distinguishing between the brains of adults with ADHD and those that are normal.

Altrapane keys in on a part of the brain known to be smaller in ADHD patients.

"It could become the first objective lab measure that has ever had this degree of promise associated with it for diagnosis of a mental disorder," said Barkley.

Because tracking altrapane's course through the brain requires using small amounts of radiation, there is some question about its safety for use in children, however.

Researchers also are studying electroencephalograms, or EEG readings, to search out similar answers.

"I think of this as more of a neurological thermometer," Vincent Monastra, a clinical psychologist with the Attention Disorders Clinic, explained, saying EEGs helped to monitor brain activity that is either too fast or too slow.

Still, no brain-imaging test is yet perfected, warned Dr. F. Xavier Castellanos, chief ADHD researcher for the National Institutes of Mental Health.

"We're trying to understand what the disorder is," Castellanos said. "Once we have a better understanding, we'll be able to use this an other techniques for improving our ability to diagnose the condition."

ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder of childhood. It is generally estimated to affect some 3 to 5 percent of school-age children during a given six-month period.

Still, in some areas of the country, up to 20 percent of white boys are diagnosed as ADHD. Boys are four times more likely to have the illness than girls, according to a Surgeon General's report.

A final report from this week's conference will be used to form a "call to action" on the disorder.

"The problem now is that often, mental health problems are not recognized until late," Satcher said. "We want to make sure that we bring the best treatment to bear in this system. We want to make sure that we continue to research."

CNN Medical Correspondent Rhonda Rowland contributed to this report.

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Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: ADHD -- A Public Health Perspective

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