title: Psychiatric disorders and behavioral characteristics of pediatric patients with both epilepsy and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) coexisting with epilepsy is poorly understood; thus, we compared the clinical correlates and psychiatric comorbid conditions of 36 children with epilepsy and ADHD aged 6 to 17 years enrolled in an ADHD treatment trial, with those reported in the literature on children with ADHD without epilepsy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Measures included the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (KSADS), the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI), and the Scales for Independent Behavior-Revised (SIB-R).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean IQ was 86+/-19, and SIB-R Standard Score was 72+/-26. The ADHD-Combined subtype, composed of both inattentive and hyperactive symptoms, was most frequent (58%). Sixty-one percent exhibited a comorbid disorder, including anxiety disorders (36%) and oppositional defiant disorder (31%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Comorbidity in ADHD with epilepsy is similar to that in ADHD without epilepsy reported in the literature. These preliminary data argue that the pathophysiology of ADHD has common components in both populations.
authors: Psychopharmacology Program, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. joseph.gonzalez-heydrich@tch.harvard.edu
authors: Joseph
authors: J
authors: Gonzalez-Heydrich
authors: Alice
authors: A
authors: Dodds
authors: Jane
authors: J
authors: Whitney
authors: Carlene
authors: C
authors: MacMillan
authors: Deborah
authors: D
authors: Waber
authors: Stephen V
authors: SV
authors: Faraone
authors: Katrina
authors: K
authors: Boyer
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: Mrakotsky
authors: David
authors: D
authors: DeMaso
authors: Blaise
authors: B
authors: Bourgeois
authors: Joseph
authors: J
authors: Biederman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D010372:Pediatrics; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric