Journal of Attention Disorders

Examine the association between sleep duration, temperament and symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in a biethnic child-population from The Born in Bradford cohort.

Parent-report sleep duration categorized children as: early short, late short, consistently short or consistently normal sleepers between 6 and 36 months. Temperament was measured using the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire at 6 months. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire assessed symptoms of ADHD at 37, 54, and 61 months.

Normal sleepers before 18 months had significantly fewer ADHD symptoms at 37 months compared with consistently short sleepers. Fussiness at 6 months was significantly positively associated with ADHD symptoms at 37 and 54 months; but does not appear to mediate the relationship between sleep duration and ADHD symptoms.

Awareness of the relationship between short sleep duration and fussiness in infancy and later ADHD symptomatology may support earlier identification of arising difficulties in children.

More knowledge on the impact of classroom setting on behavior of children with ADHD may help us to better adjust classroom settings to the needs of this group.

We observed ADHD behaviors of 55 children with ADHD and 34 typically developing peers (6–12 years) during classroom transitions, group lessons, and individual seatwork.

Multivariate analyses revealed that levels of motor and verbal hyperactivity increased during classroom transitions compared to group lessons and individual seatwork. Children in the ADHD group were more off-task, across settings. There were no interactions between group and setting.

Children with ADHD were similarly affected by classroom setting compared to typically developing peers, despite being more off-task across settings. Further research into whether the observed increase in hyperactivity during classroom transitions may be problematic or possibly even beneficial for children with ADHD is recommended.

The association between chemical dependency and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is widely recognized, but there is less data regarding modern behavioral addictions among young adults.

In this cross-sectional study, a sample of 408 Hungarian college students (67.2% female, mean age 23.37 years [SD = 3.87]) responded to an online survey including the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), the Procrastination Scale, the Short College Boredom Scale, and the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS-SV).

Regression analyses showed that passive procrastination (ß = .31, p < .001), depression (ß = .20, p < .001), academic boredom (ß = .18, p < .001), active procrastination (ß = −.12, p < .001), and smartphone addiction (ß = .13, p < .001) were significantly related to ADHD symptoms, accounting for 41% of the variance.

Findings provide important additions to knowledge of mental health challenges among young adults with ADHD.

To investigate the relationship between screen time and symptom severity in children with ADHD during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Caregivers of children with ADHD aged 7 to 16 years completed the screen time questionnaire and ADHD rating scales of the SNAP-IV-Thai version during and after the COVID-19 lockdown. The correlation between screen time and ADHD scores was assessed.

Of the 90 children, aged 11.31 ± 2.29 years, enrolled, 74.4% were male, 64.4% were in primary school, and 73% had electronic screens in their bedrooms. After adjusting with other factors, recreational screen time, both on weekdays and on weekend days, were positively correlated with ADHD scores (both inattention and hyperactive/impulsive scores). Studying screen time, on the other hand, was not associated with ADHD symptom severity. Compared to during the lockdown, studying screen time decreased after the lockdown, but recreational screen time and ADHD scores were not changed.

Increasing recreational screen time was associated with worsening ADHD symptoms.

ADHD is associated with suboptimal health behaviors including physical activity (PA). LEAP is a parent BMT group program enhanced to focus on health behaviors, integrated with mHealth technology. Little is known about implementing BMT via telemedicine “telegroups.”

Children ages 5 to 10 with ADHD and their caregiver wore activity trackers and participated in an 8 to 9 week parent BMT and social media group emphasizing PA, sleep, and screen use. A 7-day child accelerometer-wear and parent and teacher measures were completed pre- and post-group. Groups were in-person prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and in telegroup format during the pandemic.

Thirty-three families participated in person and 23 participated via virtual telegroup. Group attendance was superior for telegroup with equivalent satisfaction and skill use. Changes in health behavior and clinical outcomes were equivalent.

LEAP is a feasible and novel BMT intervention that can be delivered in an accessible telegroup format with high participation and acceptability.

US studies suggest a positive association between attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the risk of exposure to prescription opioids. However, whether this association holds in Asian countries remains unclear.

In total, 91,518 children and adolescents with ADHD and 91,518 age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled for the period of 2001 to 2009; they were followed up until the end of 2011 to determine whether they had used prescription opioids.

Children (hazard ratio [HR]: 5.83) and adolescents (HR: 3.44) with ADHD had a higher likelihood of receiving opioid prescriptions than did their matched controls. Furthermore, patients with ADHD had greater likelihoods of cumulative exposure to opioids of >14 (HR: 5.93) and >30 days (HR: 6.07).

Owing to the evidence of a significant link between opioid prescription use and eventual abuse, close monitoring for prescription opioid use is necessary for at-risk children and adolescents with ADHD.

We conducted an updated coordinate-based meta-analysis (CBMA) to determine the most prominent and robust white matter (WM) abnormalities in ADHD based on tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) findings.

The seed-based d mapping (SDM) software was applied to compare regional fractional anisotropy (FA) alterations in ADHD. Subgroup meta-analyses in the pure ADHD without comorbidity subgroup, the children and adolescents subgroup, and the adults subgroup were also explored, respectively. Meta-regression analysis was subsequently used to examine potential correlations between demographics and FA changes.

Only one cluster in the splenium of corpus callosum (CC) exhibited age-related FA decrease in ADHD individuals in the pooled meta-analysis. The adults ADHD subgroup revealed two clusters with reduced FA lied in the splenium and body of CC.

This updated CBMA confirmed the WM abnormalities in the splenium of CC in ADHD, and improved our understanding of the pathogenesis of this neurodevelopmental disorder.

The body of research directed at understanding the strengths and resilience of this population is growing. Research has indicated there are strengths for individuals with ADHD, and found factors important for promoting good outcomes. This study investigates positive qualities by examining the strengths and resilience of children with and without ADHD.

The final sample included 56 children between the ages of 10 and 17 years (ADHD: n = 38; without ADHD: n = 18).

Children in both groups tended to report average levels of strengths and resilience except for school functioning, where significant differences were found between groups. Significant correlations between strengths and resilience for both groups were found. Only family involvement was not significantly correlated with resilience for the without ADHD group.

Results from this study emphasize the importance of taking a strength-based perspective when working with children diagnosed with ADHD.

We examine what variables were associated with increased medication non-adherence for adolescents and young adults with ADHD.

These variables included sociodemographic characteristics such as gender, age, race, and ethnicity but also included self-reported reasons for medication non-adherence as well as the type of and degree of self-reported side effects or adverse events. Results: The following variables were statistically significant predictors of medication non-adherence: being White; forgetting to take the medication; not liking the feeling; and desiring a tolerance break from the medication.

Tolerance breaks appear to be a novel, self-reported reason for medication non-adherence that emerged among adolescents and young adults with ADHD. Tolerance breaks appear to be relatively common, with one in five adolescents and young adults with ADHD reporting this reason for non-adherence. Future research should further investigate tolerance breaks as a reason for medication non-adherence among adolescents and young adults with ADHD.

Attention can be assessed through Letter cancelation tasks (LCT) that employ visuospatial selection and appropriate motor responses. We examined the performance in the LCT with increasing attention load, and determined the related autonomic changes.

Autonomic parameters were estimated in healthy males at baseline and during three different cognitive load conditions using the LCT.

Results revealed a statistically significant difference (n = 30) in the percent accuracy (χ²(2) = 15.2, p < .001) and percent omission (χ²(2) = 13.3, p = 0.001) with the increasing challenge in the LCT. The vagally-mediated measures of heart rate variability were significantly decreased with the commencement of the task revealing a parasympathetic withdrawal. The respiratory sinus arrythmia was decreased, and the photoplethysmography amplitude was significantly reduced (χ²(3) = 14.2, p = 0.003) as the attention demand increased.

The performance declined with the increasing attention load. LCT evokes autonomic perturbations though overall autonomic variability does not change remarkably.

To examine whether trainer continuity and experience impacted the significantly improved inattention scores (pre-post d = 1.44–1.53) seen in both the control and active treatment groups of “Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial of Neurofeedback for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder” (2021).

The primary trainer was the one who coached the most treatment sessions with a participant. A trainer was considered experienced after coaching 100 sessions. The percentage of sessions each participant had with their primary trainer and percentage with an experienced trainer were entered as independent variables into linear mixed models in SASv.9.4 with improvement in inattention ratings by parents and teachers (primary outcome) as dependent variable.

Effect of trainer continuity on primary outcome was not significant (B = −0.016, SE = 0.153, t(123) = −0.11, p = .916). However, percent of sessions with an experienced trainer correlated with increased improvement (B = 0.238, SE = 0.095, t(123) = 2.51, p = .013).

Neurofeedback trainer continuity does not appear important, while trainer experience with at least 100 sessions correlates with better outcomes.

We assessed the feasibility and validity of remote researcher-led administration and self-administration of modified versions of two cognitive tasks sensitive to ADHD, a four-choice reaction time task (Fast task) and a combined Continuous Performance Test/Go No-Go task (CPT/GNG), through a new remote measurement technology system.

We compared the cognitive performance measures (mean and variability of reaction times (MRT, RTV), omission errors (OE) and commission errors (CE)) at a remote baseline researcher-led administration and three remote self-administration sessions between participants with and without ADHD (n = 40).

The most consistent group differences were found for RTV, MRT and CE at the baseline researcher-led administration and the first self-administration, with 8 of the 10 comparisons statistically significant and all comparisons indicating medium to large effect sizes.

Remote administration of cognitive tasks successfully captured the difficulties with response inhibition and regulation of attention, supporting the feasibility and validity of remote assessments.