title: Assessment of short-term verbal memory impairments in adolescents and adults with ADHD.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a brief measure of verbal memory can assess short-term verbal memory impairments relative to verbal abilities in adolescents and adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and to ascertain whether significant differences between short-term verbal memory and verbal abilities are more common among persons with ADHD than in the general population. One hundred seventy-six adolescents and adults diagnosed with ADHD (DSM-IV criteria) were assessed with a measure of short-term verbal memory. The short-term verbal memory score of each subject was compared with the verbal abilities on two measures. Percentages of ADHD subjects with "significant discrepancy" between verbal IQ and short-term verbal memory were compared with the standardization sample for the verbal memory measure. A majority of adolescents and adults diagnosed with ADHD demonstrated significant discrepancy between performance on the short-term verbal memory measure and verbal IQ. The percentage of ADHD subjects with a significant discrepancy between these two measures greatly exceeded the percentage of persons in the general population showing such a discrepancy. This brief measure of short-term verbal memory may be a useful measure to include in a comprehensive assessment for ADHD symptoms in adolescents and adults. Replication in other groups of ADHD patients is needed to test the generalizability of the findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine and the Psychiatry Section, Yale-New Haven Hospital, USA. donald.quinlan@yale.edu
authors.forename: Donald M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Quinlan
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000150:complications*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D014888:Wechsler Scales