Are More Children Becoming Bipolar?

Aggressive and hyperactive behavior in children is hardly new, but diagnoses for such problems have changed over the years. Two sets of researchers have examined the escalating tendency to diagnose bipolar disorder in both outpatients and inpatients.

Moreno et al. used data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a yearly survey of selected outpatient medical practices (but not mental health centers or hospital outpatient clinics). Demographic and clinical data were collected about every patient visit during a 1-week period. Visits by youth (age ≤19) that were associated with bipolar diagnoses increased from 25 per 100,000 population in 1994–1995 to 1003 per 100,000 in 2002–2003, a 40-fold increase, while those by adults doubled fr…