The survey asked parents of CSHCN whether their children had any of a list of 16 conditions. This list did not, of course, include all possible conditions that CSHCN might have. In addition, parents could report that their children had more than one condition, so any given condition listed may or may not be the cause of the child’s special health care needs.
Overall, 91 percent of CSHCN were reported to have at least one condition on the list. One in three CSHCN have any two conditions on the list (32 percent) and one in four have three or more conditions (25 percent). Allergies, reported by parents of 53 percent of CSHCN, are the health condition most commonly reported by parents of CSHCN. Other commonly reported conditions are asthma (39 percent), attention deficit disorder (30 percent), and emotional problems (21 percent).
It is important to note that these percentages represent the percent of CSHCN who have these conditions, not the prevalence of the conditions in the population of children as a whole.
