Prepotent response inhibition and reaction times in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder from a Caribbean community

Abstract

Impairment in inhibitory control has been postulated as an underlying hallmark of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which can be utilized as a quantitative trait for genetic studies. Here, we evaluate whether inhibitory control, measured by simple automatized prepotent response (PR) inhibition variables, is a robust discriminant function for the diagnosis of ADHD in children and can be used as an endophenotype for future genetic studies. One hundred fifty-two school children (30.9% female, 67.8% with ADHD) were recruited. The ADHD checklist was used as the screening tool, whilst the DSM-IV Mini International Neuropsychiatry Interview, neurologic interview and neurologic examination, and the WISC III FSIQ test were administered as the gold standard procedure to assert ADHD diagnosis. A Go/No-Go task using a naturalistic and automatized visual signal was administered. A linear multifactor model (MANOVA) was fitted to compare groups including ADHD status, age, and gender as multiple independent factors. Linear discriminant analysis and the receiver operating characteristic curve were used to assess the predictive performance of PR inhibition variables for ADHD diagnosis. We found that four variables of prepotent response reaction time- and prepotent response inhibition established statistically significant differences between children with and without ADHD. Furthermore, these variables generated a strong discriminant function with a total classification capability of 73, 84% specificity, 68% sensitivity, and 90% positive predictive value for ADHD diagnosis, which support reaction times as a candidate endophenotype that could potentially be used in future ADHD genetic research.

Genetic Variation Underpinning ADHD Risk in a Caribbean Community

“…Interestingly, this association is present when different genetic inheritance models are used (Table 3a). Future studies will include conducting complex segregation analyses to determine the inheritance mode of transmission (i.e., major gene, multifactorial contributors, or cohort effect) [10] of ADHD and comorbidities in this set of 113 families, the definition of cognitive and neuropsychological endophenotypes [40,95,96], and to perform linkage and association genetic analysis between common, rare, and functional exomic variants to ADHD, ADHD comorbidities [10,18,97], and reaction times [98]. In the future, we plan to perform genetic association analyses of the already genotyped SNPs (Table S1, Supplementary Material) and ADHD comorbidities in this cohort, as well as in individuals with extreme ADHD phenotypes [3,10,29,99,100,101,102].…”

Statistical analysis of childhood and early adolescent externalizing behaviors in a middle low income country

“…Mind-wandering is associated with hyperactivity and impairment [115]. This is expected since impairment in inhibitory control is one of the defining characteristics of hyperactivity [116]. Dietary habits which include excessive eating [117,118] and unhealthy eating patterns [119] and high levels of sedentary behavior [120] are significantly associated with hyperactive behavior.…”

Moderator Role of Monitoring in the Inhibitory Control of Adolescents With ADHD

“…An essential concept that backs up the obtained results is the compensation one. It shows that for cerebral functioning, preserved cognitive functions could assume or support the performance of other cognitive functions that are weakening (Lubrini et al, 2009), as with ADHD where inhibitory control is in detriment (Jiménez-Figueroa et al, 2017) and monitoring, based on regulating behavior and cognition language could compensate its functioning, helping with this the regulation of behavior in adolescents diagnosed with the disorder.…”