Increased Risk of Traumatic Injuries among Parents of Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Abstract

Children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are vulnerable to traumatic injuries. Parents of children with ADHD experience undesirable impacts more frequently than parents of children without ADHD. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether traumatic injuries are more prevalent in parents of children with ADHD than in parents of children without ADHD. We compared the prevalence of traumatic injuries between parents of children with and without ADHD by using data from the Taiwan Maternal and Child Health Database from 2004 to 2017. The Cox proportional-hazards regression model was used to examine differences in burn injury, fracture, and traumatic brain injury between parents of children with and without ADHD after adjustment for age, urbanicity, and income level. In total, 81,401 fathers and 87,549 mothers who had at least one offspring with ADHD and 1,646,100 fathers and 1,730,941 mothers with no offspring with ADHD were included in the analysis. The results indicated that both fathers and mothers of children with ADHD had higher risks of burn injury, fracture, and traumatic brain injury than fathers and mothers of children without ADHD. Mothers of children with ADHD had higher risks for all kinds of traumatic events than fathers of children with ADHD.