Study finds rise in number of adolescents receiving psychiatric or neurodevelopmental diagnosis

According to a national register study comparing Finnish birth cohorts from 1987 and 1997, an increasing number of adolescents receive a psychiatric or neurodevelopmental diagnosis. The number of diagnosed adolescents increased especially for girls in the younger cohort. The results of the study conducted by the University of Turku, Finland, and the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) were published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal. The share of girls who received a diagnosis was 10 percent in the older and 15 percent in the younger cohort. Whereas for boys, 6 percent in the older cohort and 9 percent in the younger cohort received a diagnosis. The diagnoses were recorded for both cohorts between ages 12 and 18. Quantitatively, the most increased were girls' special health care visits related to diagnoses of depression and anxiety.