Neuropsychological functions among adolescents with persistent, subsyndromal and remitted attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Issue 8 (June 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lin, Y. J.; Chen, W. J.; Gau, S. S.
• Is Part Of: Psychological medicine. Volume 44:Issue 8(2014)
• Page Start: 1765
• Page End: 1777
• Publication Date: 2014-06
• Subjects: Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Medicine and psychology -- Periodicals; Clinical psychology -- Periodicals; 616.89
• DOI: 10.1017/S0033291713002390
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0033-2917

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="sec_a1"> <title>Background</title> <p>Previous studies have reported mixed results on neuropsychological deficits in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and only a few studies have focused on adolescents. There is also a debate about whether the executive function (EF) impairments in ADHD are primary deficits or have some contribution from the underlying non-EF processes. The aim of this study was to investigate the impairments in EF and neuropsychological function with relatively low executive demand (low-EF) in adolescents with childhood diagnosis of ADHD as a function of current ADHD status.</p> </sec> <sec id="sec_a2" sec-type="methods"> <title>Method</title> <p>Psychiatric diagnostic interviews and computerized neuropsychological tests classified into EF and low-EF tasks were completed by 435 adolescents with a childhood diagnosis of ADHD (300 adolescents classified as persistent ADHD, 109 as subsyndromal ADHD and 26 as remitted ADHD based on the current diagnosis) and 263 typically developing (TD) adolescents.</p> </sec> <sec id="sec_a3" sec-type="results"> <title>Results</title> <p>There were significant EF (spatial working memory, spatial planning and verbal working memory) and low-EF (signal detectability, spatial span and visual recognition memory) impairments in persistent and subsyndromal ADHD. The impairments in EF were independent of low-EF despite significant moderate correlations between any two of these tasks. Adolescents with remitted ADHD showed no deficit in either EF or low-EF.</p> </sec> <sec id="sec_a4" sec-type="conclusion"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>This study suggests that adolescents with persistent and subsyndromal ADHD have EF and low-EF impairments that might contribute to ADHD independently.</p> </sec> </abstract>