When do parents report their child’s administrative ADHD diagnosis? A utilisation-based analysis from the consortium project INTEGRATE-ADHD

Background: This article examines discrepancies in the frequency of diagnoses of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents in Germany using information on health care utilisation from both administrative and parent-reported survey data linked at person level. Methods: 5,461 parents of 0- to 17-year-olds insured with DAK-Gesundheit in 2020 and being registered with a confirmed administrative ADHD diagnosis (ICD-10 F90.0-9) in at least one quarter in 2020 (M1Q criterion) were surveyed online on their child’s ADHD diagnosis, utilisation of specialist care and therapeutic service providers. With regard to the presence of a parental report of the child’s documented ADHD diagnosis, administrative data and survey data were bi- and multivariately analysed. Results: The response rate was 21.5 %. ADHD diagnoses were given more frequently in the context of paediatric care, but in the multivariable model with the administrative data only the diagnosis made by mental health professionals (OR = 2.78), in the model with the survey data only utilisation of mental health professionals (OR = 2.99) positively predicted the parental diagnostic report. With regard to the utilisation of therapeutic service providers, only the utilisation of occupational therapy was associated with the parental report of the diagnosis in both data sources. Conclusions: Parental non-reporting of a child’s administrative ADHD diagnosis in survey studies can be in part be explained by utilisation characteristics.