- Gene Discovery Points to a New Form of Alzheimer’s
- Scientists May Have Located Your Brain’s ‘Neural Compass’
- Almost All Counterfeit Oxycontin Pills Contain Fentanyl
- A Parent’s Watchful Eye Does Keep Kids From Drugs, Alcohol: Study
- AI Might Boost Detection of A-Fib
- Drug May Help Folks Kick the Vaping Habit
- Small Pump May Let Kids Stay Home As They Await New Heart
- Gene Therapy Improves Vision in People With Inherited Blindness
- Parental Deaths to Guns, Drugs Harmed Nearly 100,000 U.S. Kids in 2020
- Money Worries Top Seniors’ List of Health-Related Concerns: Poll
Imaging Study Confirms Brain Differences in People With ADHD
Researchers who pinpointed brain differences in people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) say their findings show the condition should be considered a brain disorder.
The international study — the largest of its kind — included more than 1,700 people with ADHD and more than 1,500 without the disorder. Participants were between the ages of 4 and 63.
“We hope that this will help to reduce stigma that ADHD is ‘just a label’ for difficult children or caused by poor parenting. This is definitely not the case, and we hope that this work will contribute to a better understanding of the disorder,” said study author Martine Hoogman.
ADHD is characterized by inattention, overactivity and impulsivity that can interfere with learning and relationships.
Brain scans revealed that five brain regions in those with ADHD were smaller than in those without ADHD. The greatest differences were seen in children, according to Hoogman. She is a postdoctoral researcher at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
“These differences are very small — in the range of a few percent — so the unprecedented size of our study was crucial to help identify these. Similar differences in brain volume are also seen in other psychiatric disorders, especially major depressive disorder,” Hoogman explained.
The study, published Feb. 15 in The Lancet Psychiatry, refutes the notion that ADHD is the result of poor parenting, the researchers said.
“The results from our study confirm that people with ADHD have differences in their brain structure, and therefore suggest that ADHD is a disorder of the brain,” Hoogman said in a journal news release.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Jonathan Posner hailed the findings.
“This study represents an important contribution to the field by providing robust evidence to support the notion of ADHD as a brain disorder,” he wrote. Posner is an associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more on ADHD.
Source: HealthDay
Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.