[Neuropsychological findings in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder].
OBJECTIVE
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common disorder with childhood onset and persistence into adulthood. Role of neuropsychological testing is becoming an important clinical measure in the assessment and diagnosis of adults with ADHD. The aim of this study was to assess neuropsychological functions of adults with ADHD compared to healthy controls.


METHODS
Neuropsychological functions of 16 adults with DSM-IV diagnosis of ADHD and 16 healthy controls were assessed. Control grup was matched in age, gender and years of education. Benton Visual Retention Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Wechsler Memory Scale and Stroop Color and Word Test were used for neuropsychological assessment.


RESULTS
13 of the ADHD patients were male and 3 were female. Mean age was 29.5+/-8.1, and mean education year was 13.4+/-2.2. In Stroop Color and Word Test, adults with ADHD completed word and color word subtests in a longer time than normal controls, made more mistakes in color reading subtest, made more corrections in word subtest, and had higher interferance scores compared to healthy controls (p.05). Adults with ADHD also showed poorer performance in Wechsler Memory Scale's logical memory subtest (p<.05). Patients' and healthy controls' performances were similar in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and Benton Visual Retention Test.


CONCLUSIONS
Although ADHD adults' perfomance in traditional measures of executive functioning (WCST) were similar to normal controls, they showed poor performance in tests measuring selective attention, distractibility and response inhibition (Stroop Test) indicating that attention problems do not remit with age and persist in adulthood.
Oncü
Bedriye
B
Ankara U Tip Fak., Psikiyatri AD., Ankara, Turkey.
Olmez
Senay
S
D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D014888:Wechsler Scales