Read on Twitter
Really Interesting @nberpubs paper by @PerssonPetra, Qiu, & @maya_rossin that shows how marginal diagnoses of ADHD spread w/in families. Thread https://www.nber.org/papers/w28334
2/ Doctors often ask patients about family history b/c that can be informative as to a potential diagnosis, eg heart disease.
Study looks at ADHD diagnoses that are ‘marginal’ ie driven by something arbitrary like a child’s birthday. Eg see our piece https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/opinion/august-birthdays-adhd.html
Study looks at ADHD diagnoses that are ‘marginal’ ie driven by something arbitrary like a child’s birthday. Eg see our piece https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/opinion/august-birthdays-adhd.html
3/ Authors show that marginal ADHD diagnoses cause additional diagnoses of ADHD to be made in younger siblings of patient and even cousins. This could be family history effect in doctors office or parents seeking care bc of the index marginal diagnosis. Either path interesting.
4/ Why? Bc either path suggests that potential overuse of care doesn’t stop with one person but can perpetuate through families and possibly even social networks. Reducing care on margin that isn’t beneficial can therefore have larger negative effects than we recognize.
5/ The same could be true of marginal care that is effective. Showing that that kind of care also spreads within families or networks would show that a single effective intervention in one person could lead others to get it too. Great paper great authors. End.
