A new study shows that cases of children with neurological disabilities are on the rise - especially in wealthy families.
Researchers from the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC studied data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 2001 and 2011 and by interviewing parents.
The study found a 21 percent increase in disabilities in children overall. However, the largest increases were seen in children that come from more affluent households with incomes at or above the 400 percent federal poverty level standard.
This goes against the old statistic of children in poverty having the highest rates of disability.
"For the first time since the NHIS began tracking childhood disability in 1957, the rise in reported prevalence is disproportionately occurring among socially advantaged families," according to the survey.
The study did not research the reasons for wealthier children being diagnosed more frequently in recent years.
Lead author of the study, Amy Houtrow, from the Departments of Physical Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh, tells Medscape she speculates there was an increase in the diagnosis from wealthy families because the parents and physicians typically have more awareness of disorders, there is less contempt attached to the condition and physicians are often more willing to diagnose these disorders.
