Mathematical learning disorder in school-age children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the prevalence of mathematics disorder (MD) relative to reading disorders (RD) in school-age children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and examine the effects of age, sex, cooccurring conduct disorder (CD), and ADHD subtype on this comorbidity.


METHODS
Participants were school-age children (n = 476) with confirmed DSM-IV diagnosis of ADHD. The assessment included semistructured parent and teacher interviews and standardized measures of intelligence, academic attainment, and language abilities. Based on the presence or absence of concurrent learning disorders, we compared the emerging 4 groups: ADHD-only, ADHD + MD, ADHD + RD, and ADHD + MD + RD.


RESULTS
Overall prevalence of comorbid ADHD + MD was 18.1%. Age, sex, ADHD subtypes, or comorbid CD did not affect the frequency of MD. Children with concurrent ADHD and either MD or RD attained lower IQ, language, and academic scores than those with ADHD alone. Children with ADHD + MD + RD were more seriously impaired and demonstrated distinct deficits in receptive and expressive language.


CONCLUSIONS
MDs are relatively common in school-age children with ADHD and are frequently associated with RDs. Children with ADHD + MD + RD are more severely impaired. These deficits simply cannot be explained as consequences of ADHD and might have unique biological underpinnings, with implications for diagnostic classification and therapeutic interventions.
Capano
Lucia
L
Queens University, Kingston, Ontario.
Minden
Debbie
D
Chen
Shirley X
SX
Schacher
Russell J
RJ
Ickowicz
Abel
A
D000124:Achievement; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008433:Mathematics; D015995:Prevalence