Original articleDorsolateral Prefrontal and Anterior Cingulate Cortex Volumetric Abnormalities in Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Identified by Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Section snippets
Subjects
Males and females between the ages of 18 and 59 were eligible for the study. ADHD (n = 24) and control (n = 18) adults were group matched to be comparable on age, socioeconomic status (SES), sex distribution, handedness, and education (Table 1). Functional imaging data using most of these subjects has been published (Valera et al 2005); this is the first report of the structural imaging data. Exclusion criteria were deafness, blindness, psychosis, neurological disorder, sensorimotor handicaps,
Demographic Characteristics, Intellectual Functioning, and Symptoms
As Table 1 shows, compared with non-ADHD adults, adults with ADHD were not significantly different on age, SES, sex distribution, handedness, or education. All subjects were Caucasian. The groups were statistically comparable on IQ, reading and arithmetic achievement, and frequency of LDs (which was low in both groups). Both groups were highly educated and were above average in general intellectual ability. There were no significant differences between groups on lifetime rates of mood, anxiety,
Discussion
In the first volumetric study of the brain in adults with ADHD, we found substantial support for the hypothesis that adults with ADHD have structural brain abnormalities in a priori predicted regions of interest (ACC, DLPFC, and overall cortical gray matter) that were based on a literature review (Seidman et al 2005) and a meta-analysis of studies in ADHD children and teenagers (Valera et al, unpublished data). These results extend to adults with ADHD previously reported findings in the
Conclusions and Future Directions
Despite these limitations, the results provide support for the hypothesis that structural brain abnormalities persist into adulthood in ADHD, thus complementing studies demonstrating neuropsychological and functional brain dysfunctions in adults with ADHD (Bush et al 2005, Seidman in press). Replication of these findings in adults is necessary to establish that the particular structures found to be abnormal are core components of the neurobiology of ADHD. Since both genetic factors (Faraone et
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