title: Performance on a visual sustained attention and discrimination task is associated with urinary excretion of norepineprhine metabolite in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD).
abstract: The degree of association between performance on a sustained attention task requiring visual discrimination and urinary excretion of catecholamine metabolites was examined in a cohort of 6- to 12-year-old children (n = 31) strictly selected and diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) according to DSM-IV and other strict criteria. Sustained visual attention and discrimination were measured using the Test of Variables of Attention (T.O.V.A.). Urinary excretion of dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) metabolites was measured by reversed high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). Pearson product-moment correlations were used to investigate the relationship between T.O.V.A. errors of omission (OMM), errors of commission (COM), response time (RT), and response time variability (RTV) and catecholamine metabolites of DA and NE. All T.O.V.A. indexes under investigation were significantly correlated with urinary excretion of NE metabolites, but correlations were low-to-moderate in magnitude (.37-.50). In contrast, there were no statistically significant correlations between T.O.V.A. indices and DA metabolites. These findings and their concordance with past research in human adults and animals, as well as theoretical issues associated with the present results, are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. allorente@mwph.org
authors.forename: Antolin M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Llorente
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Voigt
authors.forename: Craig L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: Marcia C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Berretta
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kennard Fraley
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Heird
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000652:urine*; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008774:Methylphenidate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000652:urine*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014796:Visual Perception
chemical_list: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D008774:Methylphenidate; D009638:Norepinephrine