ADHD in China: 2025 Guideline on Assessment, Treatment and Long-Term Care
China's 2025 ADHD guideline covers the full pathway: prevalence and comorbidity, how diagnosis is made across home and school settings, why behavioural treatment comes first in preschool children, and how medication is titrated in older children.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is the commonest neurodevelopmental disorder of childhood. Around 5 percent of children worldwide meet criteria, and Chinese community surveys put the figure for 6 to 16 year-olds at roughly 6 percent. It is not a behaviour problem that children grow out of quietly: symptoms persist into adolescence in about half to two-thirds of cases, and adult prevalence is around 2.5 to 3 percent.
China's 2025 guideline on ADHD prevention and treatment sets out the whole pathway, from screening to long-term management.
What drives it
How it looks at different ages
In adolescence the overt hyperactivity fades but inattention and poor impulse control persist, and the risks shift toward dangerous driving, substance use, school failure and mood problems. In adults, the picture is distractibility, poor organisation and time management, underperformance at work, relationship conflict and emotional volatility.
Girls more often present with the inattentive form, are quieter, and are diagnosed later and less often. Comorbidity is the rule rather than the exception: learning disorders, anxiety, depression, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, tic disorders and sleep problems.
Making the diagnosis
The process is multi-informant. Screening tools such as the CBCL and Conners parent and teacher rating scales identify children needing assessment; the Vanderbilt and SNAP-IV scales capture both core symptoms and common comorbidities. A diagnosis should never rest on a single questionnaire completed by one adult.
Treatment: age determines the sequence
From age 6 upward, combined treatment is recommended. Medication options are stimulants such as methylphenidate and non-stimulants such as atomoxetine, started at low dose and adjusted against response and tolerability, with regular monitoring of growth, blood pressure, sleep and appetite. Behavioural components expand to include a school behaviour plan, social skills training, organisation training and cognitive behavioural work for older children.
Educational support, teacher communication, adequate sleep and physical activity are part of the plan rather than optional extras, and the guideline lists early parent-child interaction, regular sleep and exercise as protective factors.
