Rich parents are becoming more paranoid about their children's health.

More parents report their children have a physical, developmental or mental health disability, said a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics. This is especially true among upper-income families.

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In 2011, six million kids aged 17 and younger were reported to have disabilities. That's a 16 percent increase from 2001 to 2011.

Physical conditions such as asthma, hearing difficulties and bone problems decreased by 12 percent. On the other hand, learning disabilities such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and emotional issues rose by 21 percent.

Children from rich families that earn 400 percent over the federal poverty level had the largest increase in disability over the decade at 28 percent.

Those in poverty consistently had a high rate of disabilities across the board, with 102.6 cases for every 1,000 individuals.

"That's something we've known about health disparities for decades, and that's still true here," said Amy Houtrow, lead author of the study and chief of the division of pediatric rehabilitation medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Strangely enough, data from the National Health Interview Survey between 2001 and 2011 said the increase was constant and more prevalent "in more advantaged households."

Houtrow believes this increase is more likely caused by the financial ability of families to access healthcare and changes in the kinds of conditions being diagnosed.

For example, autism was not one of the 14 disabilities included in the NHIS previously because the survey was created before autism became widely recognized.

Houtrow said we're simply catching more categories and more disabilities now that we were not aware of before.

Although there's an increase in parent-reported cases of child disability is higher-income homes, what should be more of a concern are kids that live in poverty-stricken households.

"We know they have less access to health care, so there's a strong possibility they could be experiencing (disability) problems, but we're not identifying them well, and therefore we're not getting them the services they need," Houtrow stated.