Abstract
BackgroundADHD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents. Altered functional connectivity has been associated with ADHD symptoms. This study aimed to investigate abnormal changes in the functional connectivity of resting-state brain networks (RSNs) among adolescent patients with different subtypes of ADHD.MethodsThe data were obtained from the ADHD-200 Global Competition, including fMRI data from 88 ADHD patients (56 patients of ADHD-Combined, ADHD-C and 32 patients of ADHD-Inattentive, ADHD-I) and 67 typically developing controls (TD-C). Group ICA was utilized to research aberrant brain functional connectivity within the different subtypes of ADHD.ResultsIn comparison with the TD-C group, the ADHD-C group showed clusters of decreased functional connectivity in the left inferior occipital gyrus (p = 0.0041) and right superior occipital gyrus (p = 0.0011) of the dorsal attention network (DAN), supplementary motor area (p = 0.0036) of the executive control network (ECN), left supramarginal gyrus (p = 0.0081) of the salience network (SN), middle temporal gyrus (p = 0.0041), and superior medial frontal gyrus (p = 0.0055) of the default mode network (DMN), while the ADHD-I group showed decreased functional connectivity in the right superior parietal gyrus (p = 0.0017) of the DAN and left middle temporal gyrus (p = 0.0105) of the DMN. In comparison with the ADHD-I group, the ADHD-C group showed decreased functional connectivity in the superior temporal gyrus (p = 0.0062) of the AN, inferior temporal gyrus (p = 0.0016) of the DAN, and the dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus (p = 0.0082) of the DMN. All the clusters surviving at p < 0.05 (AlphaSim correction).ConclusionThe results suggested that decreased functional connectivity within the DMN and DAN was responsible, at least in part, for the symptom of inattention in ADHD-I patients. Similarly, we believed that the impaired functional connectivity within networks may contribute to the manifestations of ADHD-C patients, including inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and unconscious movements.
Highlights
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents
The clusters of weaker connectivity were located in the left inferior occipital gyrus (p = 0.0041) and right superior occipital gyrus (p = 0.0011) of dorsal attention network (DAN), supplementary motor area (p = 0.0036) of executive control network (ECN), left supramarginal gyrus (p = 0.0081) of salience network (SN), and middle temporal gyrus (p = 0.0041) and superior medial frontal gyrus (p = 0.0055) of default mode network (DMN), with the differences for all
We found that the functional connectivity (FC) of the DAN, ECN, SN, and DMN were significantly reduced in ADHD-C patients, including the right inferior occipital gyrus and the superior occipital gyrus of DAN, Fig. 5 The differences between ADHD-I patients and healthy controls
Summary
ADHD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents. Altered functional connectivity has been associated with ADHD symptoms. This study aimed to investigate abnormal changes in the functional connectivity of resting-state brain networks (RSNs) among adolescent patients with different subtypes of ADHD. ADHD is mainly characterized by symptoms of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. ADHD can be categorized into three subtypes: hyperactive-impulsivity (ADHD-HI), persistent inattention (ADHD-I), and a combination of both (ADHD-C) [4, 5]. This disorder is often accompanied by learning difficulties or conduct disorders [6, 7], which can greatly affect the interpersonal skills and academic performance of the patients. Studies on objective diagnosis of ADHD are of great significance, and research on ADHD has become a major topic of interest in medicine and psychology in recent years
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