Attention characteristics of children with comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and tic disorder

Abstract

Objective To investigate the characteristics of attention in children with comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and tic disorder (TD) (CAT). Methods 60 children with comorbid ADHD and TD (CAT), 79 children with ADHD, 60 children with TD and 71 normal control children (NG) were collected. All of those cases were evaluated with the integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test (IVA-CPT). Results It was slightly higher for visual response control quotient (VRCQ) in CAT group(85.15 ±21.10) than those in ADHD group(78.52 ± 21.85) (P ＜ 0.05), there was no significant different in the other five scores between CAT group and ADHD group (P＞0.05). It was significantly lower for the full response control quotient (FRCQ), auditory response control quotient (ARCQ) ,visual response control quotient (VRCQ), full attention quotient (FAQ), auditory attention quotient (AAQ) and visual attention Quotient (VAQ) in CAT group (83.43 ± 20.98,86.12 ± 19.88,85.15 ± 21. 10,64.88 ± 16.88,67.92 ± 17. 11 ,67.97 ± 20.04) than those in TD group(96.47 ± 17.83,97.50 ± 17.62,95.72 ± 18.87,85.37 ± 18.54,86.47 ± 17.32,87.43 ± 19.89) and those in normal control group(98.42 ± 12.67,101.50 ± 15.39,95.92 ± 11.79,99.33 ± 12.98,98.50 ± 12.09,100.00 ± 16.12) (P＜0.01). Conclusion There have serious reduced control ability and attention deficit in children with CAT. The attention deficit is attributed to the existence of ADHD. Key words: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Tic disorder; Comorbid ADHD and TD; Attention; Integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test