Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): gender- and age-related differences in neurocognition

Abstract

Adult ADHD subjects display significantly poorer functioning versus healthy controls on complex but not on simple tasks of attention, and the degree of impairment varies with gender, with males displaying a higher level of impairment.

Biological factors underlying sex differences in neurological disorders

“…ADHD occurs with a sex ratio of three males to every female (Balint et al, 2009;Biederman et al, 2004;Gaub and Carlson, 1997;Graetz et al, 2005;Rucklidge, 2008). Symptomatically, males with ADHD appear more hyperactive whereas female ADHD patients are more inattentive (Davies, 2014;Lahey et al, 1994).…”

“…These fundamental sex differences in the anatomy and genetic network of the healthy brain are likely to underlie the pronounced sex differences in susceptibility, progression, symptom severity, and pathology of neurological disorders (Cahill, 2006;Cosgrove et al, 2007;Gillies and McArthur, 2010;McCarthy et al, 2012;Ngun et al, 2011). For example, females are more likely than males to develop depression, anxiety (NolenHoeksema, 1987;Weissman et al, 1996) and Alzheimer's disease (Hebert et al, 2013), whilst males are more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) (Wooten et al, 2004), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Balint et al, 2009), and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (Gillberg et al, 2006). Hence, better understanding of the biology underlying sex differences in the healthy and diseased brain will be vital for designing novel therapeutic agents that will have optimal effectiveness in each sex.…”

Living SMART — A randomized controlled trial of a guided online course teaching adults with ADHD or sub-clinical ADHD to use smartphones to structure their everyday life

“…Core symptoms include difficulties in regulating attention, activity level, and impulses, along with impairments in working memory and executive functioning. Adults with ADHD often have difficulties planning and organizing life, perceiving time, performing multiple tasks simultaneously, staying organized and completing activities (Bálint et al, 2009;Barkley, 2002;Faraone et al, 2003). Because of the impairments associated with ADHD, effective treatment for adults is important.…”

Neural correlates of visuospatial working memory in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and healthy controls

“…This is especially important in patient studies with imbalanced samples with regard to gender, such as ADHD studies that typically include more ADHD males and control females. Gender effects in ADHD (i.e., group × gender interactions) have been reported in relation to neurocognitive performance (Gaub and Carlson, 1997;Gershon and Gershon, 2002;Balint et al, 2009), though no studies specifically investigated VSWM. However, gender effects are rarely investigated in fMRI studies of ADHD.…”