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Neuropsychological functions among adolescents with persistent, subsyndromal and remitted attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Y. J. Lin ,
W. J. Chen  and
S. S. Gau
Y. J. Lin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan Department of Psychiatry, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
W. J. Chen
Affiliation:
Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
S. S. Gau*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Department of Psychology, School of Occupational Therapy, Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, and Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
*
*Address for correspondence: S. S. Gau, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, No. 7, Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei 10002, Taiwan. (Email: gaushufe@ntu.edu.tw)
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Abstract

Background

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.

Method

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.

Results

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.

Conclusions

This study suggests that adolescents with persistent and subsyndromal ADHD have EF and low-EF impairments that might contribute to ADHD independently.

Keywords

Adolescentsattention deficit hyperactivity disorderneuropsychological functioningpersistenceworking memory
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 44 , Issue 8 , June 2014 , pp. 1765 - 1777
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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