Peripheral Hypoarousal but Not Preparation-Vigilance Impairment Endures in ADHD Remission. Issue 13 (November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: James, Sarah-Naomi; Cheung, Celeste H. M.; Rommel, Anna-Sophie; McLoughlin, Gráinne; Brandeis, Daniel; Banaschewski, Tobias; Asherson, Philip; Kuntsi, Jonna
• Is Part Of: Journal of attention disorders. Volume 24:Issue 13(2020)
• Page Start: 1944
• Page End: 1951
• Publication Date: 2020-11
• Subjects: ADHD -- remission -- EEG -- arousal -- adolescents; Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder -- Periodicals; Attention -- Periodicals; 616.8589
• DOI: 10.1177/1087054717698813
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1087-0547

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates whether impairments associated with persistent ADHD—impaired attention allocation (P3 amplitude), peripheral hypoarousal (skin conductance level [SCL]), and adjustment in preparatory state (contingent negative variation [CNV])—reflect enduring deficits unrelated to ADHD outcome or are markers of ADHD remission.Method: Young people with childhood ADHD (73 persisters and 18 remitters) and 144 controls were compared on neurophysiological measures during two conditions (baseline and fast-incentive) of a four-choice reaction time task.Results: ADHD remitters differed from persisters, and were indistinguishable from controls, on baseline P3 amplitude and fast-incentive CNV amplitude ( p ≤ .05). ADHD remitters differed from controls ( p ≤ .01), and were indistinguishable from persisters ( p > .05), on baseline SCL.Conclusion: Preparation-vigilance measures were markers of ADHD remission, confirming previous findings with other measures. Yet, SCL-measured peripheral hypoarousal emerges as an enduring deficit unrelated to ADHD improvement. Future studies should explore potential compensatory mechanisms that enable efficient preparation-vigilance processes in ADHD remitters.